Audi dumps CT Energia; Lucchese downs
Villa Del Lago and Orchard Hill needs overtime to best Enigma in Ylvisaker Cup
play
By Alex Webbe
The International Polo Club presented another full day of high-goal
polo competition in the 20-goal Ylvisaker Cup with three games on the slate for
the day. Action began at 10am when
Orchard Hill (Steve Van Andel, Lucas Criado, Facundo Pieres and Remy Muller),
the recent winner of the Joe Barry Memorial Cup, needed overtime to defeat a
determined Enigma foursome (Jerome Wirth, Jeff Hall, Matias MacDonough and
Carlucho Arellano), 10-9.
Jeff Hall scored the first goal of the day in the opening 30
seconds of the match for a 1-0 Enigma lead.
A minute later Remy Muller answered back with an Orchard Hill goal, 1-1. Lucas Criado gave the lead to Orchard Hill
with a goal at the 3:18 mark, 2-1, but Carlucho Arellano leveled the score at
2-2 to end the chukker.
Facundo Pieres gave the lead to Orchard Hill in the first
minute of the second chukker on a 30-yard penalty conversion, 3-2. Matias MacDonough leveled it at 3-3 with a
goal from the field three minutes later.
Pieres scored the final goal of the period on a flip shot at the 2:52
mark to make it 4-3, Orchard Hill.
A determined Enigma defense held Pieres and the Orchard Hill
scoreless in the third chukker while their offense went to work. MacDonough tied it at 4-4 with Enigma’s first
goal of the chukker in the first two minutes of play. Less than a minute later, Hall scored the go
ahead goal as Enigma ended the first half with a 5-4 advantage.
Hall opened the second half with a goal from the field that
extended the Enigma lead to two goals, 6-4, but that was when the wheels
started coming off the wagon for Enigma.
A Penalty 1 resulted in Orchard Hill being awarded a goal followed by a throw-in
in front of the Enigma goal. Orchard
Hill controlled the ball and Pieres scored the tying goal just 14 seconds
later. Orchard Hill took the ensuing
throw-in at the center of the field and drove toward the Enigma goal, once
again. Pieres scored his second goal of
the chukker to put Orchard Hill in the lead, 7-6. Orchard Hill kept the pressure on but Enigma
fought back. An Orchard Hill foul sent Arellano
to the penalty line where he converted a 40-yard penalty shot for a goal to
level the score at 7-7.
Another Orchard Hill foul opened the fifth chukker, with
Arellano converting for a goal just 30 seconds into the period for the 8-7
lead. Pieres responded in kind by
scoring on a 30-yard penalty shot just moments later for the final goal of the
fifth period. With one chukker left in regulation time, the two teams rode off
the field in an 8-8 deadlock.
Orchard Hill took the 9-8 lead at the 5:48 mark of the sixth
on an impressive 300 yard run down the field by Pieres. Capping the effort with
a well-executed neckshot, Orchard Hill moved back into the lead. Enigma persisted, with MacDonough stealing
the ball from Pieres and scoring from nearly 70-yards out. At the end of regulation time the score was tied
at 9-9, forcing a sudden-death overtime chukker.
After a brief intermission, the players returned to the pitch. An early Enigma foul pita cruel end to the
drama with Pieres converting the 60-yard penalty shot for the winning goal,
10-9.
Pieres led the Orchard Hill attack with seven goals (three
on penalty shots). Criado added two
goals and Muller was credited with a goal in the victory. Hall, MacDonough and Arellano scored three
goals apiece for Enigma.
Lucchese 16, Villa
Del Lago 12
In what was anticipated to be “the Polito Pieres Show”, his
cousin Nico Pieres stole the spotlight from the game’s hottest commodity to
score a game high ten goals and lead Lucchese (John Muse, Magoo Laprida, Nico
Pieres and Geronimo Obregon) to a convincing 16-12 win over Villa Del Lago (Jim
Zenni, Agustin Obregon, Polito Pieres and Julian de Lusarreta)
Polito Pieres scored the first goal of the game on a pass
from teammate Agustin Obregon from the opening throw-in, 1-0, but that was when
Nico Pieres and Lucchese got on track.
Nico Pieres finally got Lucchese on the scoreboard at the
3:52 mark with a flip shot that split the Villa Del Lago goalposts to tie it at
1-1. Nico added another goal from the field
at the 2:13 mark and scored his third goal of the chukker with less than a
minute on the clock for a first chukker 3-1 lead.
Villa Del Lago jumped right back into it in the second
period. Consecutive goals from Julian de
Lusarreta tied it at 3-3, and a goal from Polito Pieres gave them their first
lead of the game, 4-3. Geronimo Obregon (filling
in for the injured Andres Weisz) evened the score at 4-4 eth his first goal of the
day. Nico Pieres put Lucchese in front
in the final minute of the chukker, 5-4.
In third chukker action, Geronimo Obregon finished off a
fine run down the field by Nico Pieres by tapping the ball through the
goalposts, 6-4. Nico Pieres followed up
by adding a goal from the field just a minute later, 7-4. Polito Pieres
converted a short penalty shot for a goal for Villa Del Lago, cutting the lead
to two goals, 7-5. Nico Pieres and
Polito Pieres exchanged penalty goals to end the first half with Lucchese
possessing a two goal, 8-6 advantage.
Magoo Laprida scored his first goal of the day in the fourth
chukker to stretch the Lucchese lead to three goals, 9-6. Villa
Del Lago responded with a goal from the field from de Lusarreta, 9-7. Polito Pieres added the final two goals of
the period to tie it once again, 9-9.
Laprida put Lucchese back in the lead in the opening seconds
of the fifth on a goal from the field, 10-9, and from then on it was all
Lucchese. A goal from Nico Pieres and another
goal from Laprida gave Lucchese a three goals lead, 12-9. A foul against Villa Del Lago and a Technical
foul against Polito Pieres resulted in a 30-yard penalty conversion by Nico Pieres
and the expulsion of Polito Pieres for the final three minutes of the chukker. Nico Pieres converted two more penalty shots
for goals as Lucchese rode off the field at the end of the fifth chukker with a
comfortable 14-9 lead.
The momentum was with Lucchese as the sixth period got
underway. Consecutive goals from Nico
Pieres and Geronimo Obregon extended the Lucchese lead to seven goals, 16-9 as Villa
Del Lago tried desperately to get back into the game. Villa Del Lago scored the final three goals of
the game (one from de Lusarreta and two from Polito Piers), but it was too
late. Time expired with Lucchese
celebrating the 16-12 victory.
Nico Pieres took top billing as he scored ten goals on the
day. Teammates Laprida and Geronimo Obregon each added three goals for the
win. Polito Pieres led the Villa Del
Lago attack with eight goals. De
Lusarreta added four goals in the loss.
Audi 12, CT Energia
10
In the feature Ylvisaker Cup match of the day, Audi (Marc
Ganzi, Lucas Lalor, Nic Roldan and Fred Mannix) overcame an early 4-1 deficit
to record a 12-9 win over a talented CT Energia lineup (Alessandro Bazzoni,
Kris Kampsen, Joao Ganon and Nick Manifold)
Brazilian 7-goaler Joao Ganon scored the first goal of the
game in the first 30 seconds for a 1-0advantage. Three minutes later, Ganon converted a
30-yard penalty shot for a goal to make it 2-0.
Nic Roldan cut into the CT Energia lead with a goal from the field,
2-1. Ganon added another penalty goal at
the 1:22 mark followed by a goal from the field from Nick Manifold to end the period
with CT Energia on top of a 4-1 lead.
Audi charged back into the game in the second chukker, with
Roldan scoring the first two goals and cutting the CT Energia lead to a single
goal, 4-3. Audi team captain Marc Ganzi tied
the game with his first goal of the match, 4-4. Manifold put CT Energia in the lead again with
is second goal of the game, 5-4. Fred
Mannix scored the final goal of the chukker as the horn sounded. After two periods of play, the score was tied
at 5-5.
The respective defenses were at their best in the third
chukker and goals were at a premium.
Roldan scored the only goal of the chukker with 2:14 on the game clock,
giving Audi their first lead of the game, 6-5.
Audi had their way with CT Energia in the fourth
period. Single goals from Ganon and
Kampsen first tied, 6-6, and then gave the lead back to CT Energia, 7-6. Roldan and Fred Mannix scored two more goals apiece
as Audi left the field at the end of the fourth chukker with a 10-7 lead.
Roldan added another goal from the field at the 5:04 mark
and Ganzi converted a 30-yard penalty shot, ending the fifth chukker with Audi
on top, 12-7.
CT Energia tried to stage a late rally, and picked up a pair
of goals from Manifold in the sixth and final chukker, but at the end of the
game it was Audi driving off with the 12-9 victory.
Roldan set the pace for the game, scoring seven times (twice
on penalty shots) and picking up MVP honors.
Mannix added three goals and Ganzi
scored twice for the win. Ganon and
Manifold scored four goals apiece.
Kampsen was credited with two goals and Manifold’s Kiwi was named Beat
Playing Pony.
Ylvisaker Cup play resumes on Thursday with three more games
scheduled to be played. In a 10am game,
FlexJet is set to play Palm Beach Illustrated.
Enigma will face Audi at noon; and CT Energia plays Valiente at 3pm.