Valiente and Bendabout Win Joe Barry Memorial Openers

Valiente Wins in OT; Bendabout Tops ERG


By Alex Webbe


 


After a see-saw battle that saw the score tied no less than six times, Valiente 9-goaler Nacho Astrada scored the winning goal in overtime Saturday afternoon in the 12-11 victory over a scrappy Faraway foursome in the opening game of the 2011 Joe Barry Memorial Cup at the International Polo Club in Wellington.


“Their horses were a little quicker than ours were in the first chukker,” said Faraway’s Julio Arellano, “and before we knew it we were down 2-0.”


An opening goal from Valiente’s Stewart Armstrong was followed by a goal from the field from Jeff Hall, as Valiente took an early lead.  Arellano finally got Faraway on t scoreboard, but Nacho Astrada put Valiente up 3-1.  Arellano converted a penalty shot to cut the Valiente lead to a single goal, 3-2, as the chukker ended.


Hall and Faraway’s Sugar Erskine exchanged goals in the second period for the only scoring as the fast-paced action carried up and down the field.  Faraway missed a scoring opportunity on a missed penalty shot, and Valiente took the 4-3 lead into the third chukker.


Faraway took control of the third period, getting three goals from Arellano, but missing another very makeable penalty shot.  Hall accounted for the sole Valiente goal, and Faraway left the field at the end of the first half with a fragile 6-5 advantage.


Valiente bounced back in the fourth, getting a pair of goals from Astrada and Robert Jornayvaz’s first score of the game.  Faraway got goals from Arellano and Julio Gracida, but the game was all even, 8-8, as the horn sounded ending the chukker.


When asked when he felt the turning point was in the game, Valiente 8-goaler Hall said “I don’t think there was a turning point.  Nacho (Astrada) and I just pounded it out.  Stewart (Armstrong) pressed the attack and Robert (Jornayvaz) was a big asset.”


Faraway got two goals from Gracida in the fifth that were offset by goals from Hall and Astrada, and the teams took a 10-10 score into the final chukker of regulation play.


“The teams are very competitive this year,” offered Hall.  “We lost last weekend in overtime, and were pressed throughout today’s game.  We fought hard throughout the game.”


Faraway went up 11-10 on Arellano’s seventh goal of the game, but an aggressive Valiente charge caused a foul, and Hall converted it with 2:40 left to play.  Both teams continued to mount attacks with the defensive work holding the line, and regulation time expired with the score knotted up at 11-11.


After a brief intermission, both teams returned to the field for the sudden-death overtime period.  Valiente took the opening throw-in and dashed towards the Faraway goal.  A whistle ensued followed by another throw-in, Astrada took control of the ball and drove it through the goal posts for the 12-11 Valiente win.


BENDABOUT 12-ERG 11


In earlier action in the Joe Barry Memorial Cup, Bendabout managed to hold on to a 12-11 sixth chukker lead to ride off with a win at the expense of a talented ERG lineup.


In another back-and-forth battle, Bendabout outlasted Scott Wood’s ERG team, as Paco De Narvaez missed a 30-yard penalty shot that would have tied it up with 19 seconds to play.


Bendabout took advantage of four goals from Lucas Criado in the first half of play to take a 5-4 halftime lead, but the contest was far from over.  The game would be tied seven times in the course of play before Bendabout would finally end the fifth chukker with a narrow 11-10 edge.


Criado scored the opening goal of the final chukker, as Bendabout stretched its lead to 12-10 before a penalty put ERG’s De Narvaez at the penalty line.  A converted shot ad ERG within a goal of the lead, with time quickly running out.


A Bendabout foul in the final seconds of play put De Narvaez at the penalty line once again for s short, game-tying attempt, but with 19 seconds on the clock, the shot went wide and Bendabout took home the 12-11 win.


Action will continue in the Joe Barry Memorial Cup today with Lucchese meeting Patagones at noon followed by a 3 pm stadium game featuring Zacara and Mt. Brilliant.