US Open: Audi vs. Zacara

Audi Flexes Muscles in Opening Win

By Alex Webbe

 

Facundo Pieres scored four of his game high seven goals in the first three chukkers as Audi rolled over Zacara 15-8 in its first game of the 2009 United States Open Championship at the International Polo Club in Wellington Saturday morning.

 

Gonzalito Pieres scored three first chukker goals and younger brother Facundo converted a penalty shot as Audi jumped out to an early 4-1 lead.  Eight-goaler Carlos Gracida, the winningest active player in Open history managed to keep Zacara from getting blanked with a goal from the field.

 

Eighteen-year-old Nicolas Pieres, the youngest of Audi’s three Pieres brothers, charged onto the field in the second chukker with his seven-year-old mare, Julieta, and promptly scored two goals while leaving the Zacara defenders fighting to catch up. 

 

Zacara showed signs of life, getting consecutive goals from Magoo Laprida and Jeff Hall, but goals from Audi team captain Marc Ganzi and another penalty conversion from Facundo Pieres ended the chukker with Audi on top of an 8-3 score.

 

Facundo Pieres went back to work in the third chukker with two quick goals on his 12-year-old mare, Marina, but Laprida and Gracida each scored single goals.  Zacara trailed by five goals at halftime, 8-3.

 

“We got behind in our last game with Zacara (a 15-13 Audi win in the semifinals of the C. V. Whitney Cup),” Facundo Pieres said,” I think we were behind 4-0 before we finally got going, and we didn’t want that to happen again,” he said.  “We studied the films of that game and made adjustments.”

 

The adjustments they made seemed to work.  Audi dominated the throw-ins, taking immediate possession of the majority of them and setting the pace for the game.

 

Zacara got single goals from Gracida and Laprida in the fourth period with Audi being held to a single goal.  Audi held the lead at 11-7.

 

Both teams tightened up their defenses in the fifth chukker with Gonzalo Pieres scoring the only goal of the chukker to regain a five goal lead, 12-7.

 

With the game all but over, Audi continued to play its wide-open style of play.  Facundo Pieres added two more goals and Gonzalito Pieres added one to give Audi a 15-7 lead.  Zacara managed a final goal from Laprida in the 15-8 loss.

 

“The team went well,” beamed team Ganzi after the match, “we did a good job controlling the throw-ins,” he said.

Audi’s next Open contest will be on Friday, April 10, against Orchard Hill.