Roldan’s OT goal lifts Audi past Faraway, 9-8
By Alex Webbe
Audi (Marc Ganzi,Carlitos Gracida, Nic Roldan and Nico Pieres) won their opening match in theInternational Polo Club’s Joe Barry Memorial Cup game Saturday afternoon in a9-8 win over Faraway (Hutton Goodman, Martin Pepa, Santiago Chavanne andMariano Gonzalez), but they needed an overtime goal from Nic Roldan to do it.
With five othergames postponed due to wet fields, the Audi-Faraway game was the only 20-goalaction that was played in the opening round of the Joe Barry Memorial Cup.
Audi captain Marc Ganziscored the first goal of the match on a beautifully executed cut-shot that hedrove through the goal posts at the 30-second horn for the only score of theopening chukker, 1-0.
Nic Roldan converteda 30-yard penalty shot to make it 2-0, as Audi seemed to be taking control ofthe game. Mariano Gonzalez cut into theAudi lead as he carried the ball some 200 yards for the final goal of thechukker. Audi continued to hold thelead, 2-1.
Roldan opened thescoring in the third as he blistered the ball through the goal posts from50-yards out, 3-1. Santiago Chavannetapped in a pass from teammate Martin Pepa. At the end of the first half, Audi held on to a narrow 3-2 advantage.
In the openingminute of the fourth, Gonzalez stole the ball from Roldan and scored the tyinggoal, 3-3. Chavanne gave Faraway theirfirst lead of the game with his second goal of the match, 4-3. Gonzalez added a third consecutive Farawaygoal, stretching the lead to two goals, 5-3. Roldan converted a penalty shot in the final seconds of the chukker asFaraway rode off the field with a narrow 5-4 lead.
Fifth period actionsaw Roldan tie it up in the first minute of play, 5-5. Pepa scored two straight goals as Farawayregained their two goal lead, 7-5. Roldanscored on a penalty shot and then cashed in on a technical foul called againstFaraway’s Pepa, taking the ball from the midfield placement and racing down thefield to score in the final seconds of the chukker, 7-7.
Chavanne’s thirdgoal of the match put Faraway back on top, 8-7, but Audi wasn’t ready toconcede. Nico Pieres took a pass fromGanzi midway down the field and carried it through the goal posts for an 8-8tie, forcing a sudden-death overtime period.
After a briefintermission, the two teams returned to the field. Gonzalez passed up a golden opportunity as hemissed on a 40-yard penalty shot, and Audi took advantage of it. Less than three minutes into the overtimeperiod Faraway fouled. Roldan rode tothe penalty line and converted a short penalty shot for the winning goal, 9-8.
Roldan scored fourof his game high six goals on penalty shots. Pieres added a pair of goals and Ganzi scored once for the win. Gonzalez and Chavanne scored three goalsapiece for Faraway. Pepa added two goalsin the loss.
Joe Barry Memorialcup play is slated to continue on Sunday, January 12th with fivegames scheduled to take place. Two 10AM games will feature Flight Operations(Melissa Ganzi, Fred Mannix, Miguel Astrada and Juan Bollini) vs. LechuzaCaracas (Victor Vargas, Mariano Gracida, Pablo MacDonough and Nico Espain) anda second game fielding Orchard Hill (Steve Van Andel, Lucas Criado, FacundoPieres and Marcos Alberdi). Two moregames are slated to be played simultaneously at noon with Palm BeachIllustrated (Jared Zenni, Tommy Collingwood, Magoo Laprida and Facundo Obregon)battling Coca-Cola (Gillian Johnston, Jeff Hall, Julio Arellano and Nick Morrison). The second midday match pits LosMachitos/Heathcote (Steve Lefkowitz, Matias Magrini, Mariano Aguerre and a TBA)against El Cabure (Federico Virasoro, Carlucho Arellano, Agustin Merlos andStevie Orthwein).
The feature match ofthe game kicks off at 3PM with Las Monjitas (1-0) facing a 1-0 Valiente team (BobJornayvaz, Santi Torres, Sapo Caset and Roberto Zedda).