| On Tuesday, Cinque Terre defeated HPA by 8-7, and the final of the Caribbean Open, the fourth Tournament of the Polo Challenge RD 2017 was defined.
The match took place in Los Establos, in Cap Cana, under sunny skies. Alessandro Bazzoni’s team was definitely the favorite team of the day, not only due to its handicap, but also due to the outstanding performance throughout the tournament. Brothers Santiago and Cubi Toccalino, two of the highlighted players of the Dominican Season, opened the scoreboard for their team. The fact that they have been playing together has strengthened their alliance as solid and effective in the middle field. When the first chukka was about to end, Gonzalo Deltour scored for HPA. From the second chukka onwards, the match was quite even, but also very open. The low quantity of fouls is an aspect to be highlighted, as it was key to a flowing, fast game. Alessandro Bazzoni scored twice and Cinque Terre that way took the definite lead. On the other hand, HPA had a good attack performance from all its players who managed to score. Cinque Terre was anyways able to impose their strategy and play, and stole the victory in spite of the great final performance by HPA.
On Wednesday, the qualifiers stage of the Caribbean Open came to an end during te afternoon, after the match Lechuza Caracas vs. Casa de Campo, at Lechuza. Even though the weather threatened to suspend the match, finally the sun came out and the match took place, with a quite crowded audience.
The start of the match was very even, there were several goal opportunities, but the team that had the best one was naturally Lechuza. Victor Vargas opened the scoreboard thanks to the help of Juanma Nero, his teammate for the last 8 years. But Casa de Campo managed to get back on track quickly, and took the game to a tie thanks to Leo Matos. Once again, Victor Vargas scored and the first chukka closed with 2-1. The goal opportunities kept on showing up, but Lechuza couldn’t manage to get a wider lead that would allow them to reach the end of the match more relaxed. Actually, both teams entered the last chukka tied at 6-6. Finally, the Venezuelan team showed its teeth. Pelon Stirling was the first to score, but Leo Matos, who has had a great performance during the match, scored again. Then came Lalo James, who scored his first goal on the match and on the last seconds of play, Victor Vargas scored a fourth time, and the match ended in 9-7.
The Polo Challenge RD 2017 finalizes on Friday with the grand final of the Caribbean Open: During the morning, subsidiary finals: Casa de Campo vs HPA.4:30pm: Lechuza vs Cinque Terre, on Casa de Campo’s field 2. |
