Villa Del Lago earns finalist berth in Joe Barry Memorial Cup

Villa Del Lago earns finalist berth
in Joe Barry Memorial Cup; second semifinal interrupted, to finish on Thursday

By Alex Webbe

After trailing Enigma (Jerome Wirth, Jeff Hall, Matias
MacDonough and Carlucho Arellano) by four goals at the end of the fourth
chukker, Villa Del Lago (Jim Zenni, Agustin Obregon, Polito Pieres and Julian
de Lusarreta) rallied for five unanswered goals in the fifth to carry the team
to the 11-10 win Wednesday afternoon in the first semifinal of the 20-goal Joe
Barry memorial Cup at the International Polo Club.

Polito Pieres scored the first goal of the game just two
minutes into the opening chukker, but the rest of the period belonged to Jerome
Wirth’s Enigma lineup.   Matias
MacDonough took the ensuing throw-in and raced 150-yards down the field for the
tying goal, 1-1.  Carlucho Arellano added
a goal just a minute later, 2-1, with Jeff Hall closing out the chukker with a
final goal at the 1:32 mark for the 3-1 lead.

MacDonough converted a 30-yard penalty shot in the opening
minute of the second period, 4-1, when Villa Del Lago came alive.  Jim Zenni scored the first goal of the
chukker for Villa De Lago with a shot from the field.  Polito Pieres followed up with a pair of
penalty shots that tied the game at 4-4.
Arellano ended the chukker by converting a 40-yard penalty shot for the
go-ahead goal, 5-4.

Enigma continued to dominate the game in the third.  Shutout defense was bolstered by goals from
MacDonough and Arellano (penalty goal).
The first half ended with Enigma in possession of a 7-4 lead.

Hall scored the first goal of the second half with
Macdonough passing the ball to Arellano who in turn send the ball to Hall for
the score, 8-4.  Pieres racked up another
penalty goal to make it 8-5.  Consecutive
goals from MacDonough, Arellano extended the lead to five goals, 10-5.  Agustin Obregon scored the final goal of the
chukker to trail Enigma, 10-6.

Just as Enigma had dominated earlier chukkers, Villa Del
Lago owned the fifth.  Enigma watched as
Villa Del Lago scored five consecutive goals for an 11-10 lead with once
chukker remaining to be played.  Obregon
and Julian de Lusarreta scored the first goal of the chukker, with Pieres
converting a penalty shot midway through the period to trail, 10-9.  A nearside backhander from Pieres leveled the
score at 10-10 with Obregon giving Villa Del Lago an 11-10 lead.

Both teams played lights out defense in the final chukker,
with neither able to put any points on the scoreboard.  The game ended with Villa Del Lago
celebrating the 11-10 win.

Pieres led all scoring with six goals (four on penalty
conversions).  Obregon scored three
times.  Zenni and de Lusarreta added a
goal for the win.  MacDonough and
Arellano scored four goals apiece for Enigma.
Hall chipped in two goals in the loss.

The win boosted Villa Del Lago into the tournament final
(the second 20-goal final of the season for them). 

Second semifinal
interrupted; will finish Thursday morning

The second semifinal game of the tournament between Orchard
Hill (Steve Van Andel, Lucas Criado, Facundo Pieres and Remy Muller) and Lucchese
(Benjamin Avendano, Andres Weisz, Magoo Laprida and Nico Pieres) was
interrupted 2:47 left to play in the fourth chukker, following a collision that
sent horse and rider (Andres Weisz-suspected broken collarbone) to the ground.

Prior to the accident, Facundo Pieres led Orchard Hill to an
8-6 lead with six goals from the field. Nico Pieres scored five times for
Lucchese (two on penalty shots.

The game has been scheduled to be completed in an 11AM
meeting on Thursday morning.  No official
replacement for Weisz has been announced at this time.