Valiente
beats Zacara, 13-9; wins USPA Piaget Gold Cup
By
Alex Webbe
Valiente made up for an early season loss (in the C. V.
Whitney Cup) to Zacara and successfully defended its 2012 USPA Piaget Gold Cup
title with a resounding 13-9 win Sunday afternoon at the International Polo
Club in Wellington before thousands of enthusiastic spectators.
With three of the world’s eight 10-goal players on the
field, fireworks were expected, and the crowd wasn’t disappointed. Valiente took the field with 10-goalers Pelon
Stirling and Adolfo Cambiaso while the Zacara attack was led by 10-goaler
Facundo Pieres.
After racing up and down the pitch for the first four
minutes of play, Pelon Stirling scored the only goal of the opening chukker, for
an early 1-0 Valiente lead.
Second period play saw Zacara score four straight goals
for a 4-1 advantage. Pieres opened with
a penalty conversion, followed up by a goal from the field two minutes later
for a 2-1 lead. Mike Azzaro found
himself on the scoring end of a pass from Pieres to make it 3-1 before Pieres
blasted the ball through the Valiente goal posts from 90 yards out to make it
4-1. A Zacara foul sent Santi Torres to
the penalty line with 17 seconds on the clock where he converted the shot for a
goal. Zacara held the lead, 4-2, after
the first two chukkers of play.
A goal from the field from Pieres was offset by a pair of
penalty goals from Torres in the third.
Valiente cut into the Zacara lead but continued to trail at the end of
the first half, 5-4.
Valiente took total control of the game in the fourth
chukker. Cambiaso scored on a penalty
goal to tie it up at 5-5 and then gave Valiente the lead with a second penalty
shot for a goal at 3:22. A third goal
came from Cambiaso with 2:20 left in the chukker. Torres scored his fourth goal of the game and
his first from the field followed by another goal from Cambiaso for a
commanding 9-5 lead with two chukkers left to play.
“Adolfo (Cambiaso) sat us down at halftime and told us
what he wanted us to do in the second half,†offered Valiente patron, Bob
Jornayvaz. “He told us to mark our men
and pass the ball, and we did,†he smiled.
The fourth chukker really did Zacara in as they struggled
to regain the momentum. Azzaro opened
the fifth with a goal from the field, but the Valiente defense forced them to
waste nearly two minutes before the goal was scored. Torres converted another penalty goal at the
4:45 mark for a 10-6 Valiente edge.
Pieres scored two goals over the course of the next two minutes to bring
Zacara to with a couple goals of the lead, 10-8, when Torres fired back. A penalty goal and a goal from the field from
the nineteen-year-old 6-goaler ended the chukker with Valiente maintaining the
four goal lead, 12-8.
The final chukker was limited to Cambiaso and Pieres
exchanging single goals. Cambiaso scored
a goal from the field with five-and-a-half minutes left in regulation play,
13-8 followed by a penalty goal from Pieres at 2:50 for the final score of the
game in a 13-9 Valiente victory.
Just a year ago Cambiaso and Stirling joined Bob
Jornayvaz’s son, Robert, to win the Piaget Gold Cup, and now Robert was on hand
(flew in from the University of Virginia for the game) to watch his father
defend the title.
Torres led the Valiente attack with seven goals (five on
penalty shots) and was named MVP.
Cambiaso scored five times (twice on penalty shots) and Stirling added a
goal for the win. Pieres was credited
with seven goals for Valiente (two on penalty shots). Azzaro added two in a losing effort.
Stirling’s 10-year-old brown mare, Silk was honored as Best Playing Pony.
PIAGET
9, ERG 8
Earlier in the day 10-goaler Sapo Caset led a resilient
Piaget team back from a 5-3 halftime deficit to record a 9-8 win over ERG in
the finals of the 26-goal Butler Handicap.
Both teams battled for control of the ball in the early
goings, but it was nearly halfway through the chukker before ERG’s Paco de
Narvaez drove the ball through the Piaget goalposts for a 1-0 lead. A minute-and-a-half later Caset tied it up
for Piaget, 1-1, with a penalty conversion.
Miguel Astrada reminded everyone why he carried a 10-goal
handicap when he scored on a beautifully executed shot on goal in the opening
seconds of the second chukker for a 2-1 lead.
Caset added a goal to the Piaget total just three minutes later, 3-1,
when ERG pushed back. Piaget fouls sent
ERG 9-goaler Agustin Merlos to the penalty line where he converted consecutive
shots to make it all even at 3-3 to end the chukker.
ERG continued to hold sway over the Piaget offense in the
third period. Merlos added two more
goals from the field to go on top, 5-3 while shutting out the Piaget attack. At the end of the first half, Piaget trailed
by two goals, 5-3.
“We missed some opportunities in the first half,†said
Caset, “but we felt we were getting into a good rhythm and continued to
press. When things started falling our
way in the second half, we took advantage of the opportunities.â€
Caset’s fourth chukker contributions amounted to five
goals (three on penalty shots) while the Piaget defense kept ERG off the
scoreboard. The momentum belonged to
Piaget and at the end of the fourth period ERG trailed, 8-5. Wesley Bryan (substituting for team captain
Scott Wood in the final two chukkers) scored the only goal of the fifth
period. Piaget continued to hold the
advantage in an 8-6 game.
Nacho Badiola scored his first goal of the game in the
sixth for a 9-6 lead. ERG responded with
single goals from Merlos and Eduardo Astrada, but that was where it ended in
the 9-8 Piaget win.
Caset led all scoring with eight goals (four on penalty
shots) and received MVP honors for his efforts.
His 10-year-old brown mare, Viparita,
was named Best Playing Pony. Badiola
added a goal in the Piaget victory.
Merlos scored five times for ERG (twice on penalty shots). Eduardo Astrada, de Narvaez and Bryan all
scored single goals in the win.