Zacara wins 2012 Nespresso US Open

Zacara captures 2012 Nespresso

US Open in a 10-8 thriller

By
Alex Webbe

“I don’t know what we did,” said an excited Magoo Laprida
following his team’s 10-8 win over Lechuza Caracas in the finals of the 2012
Nespresso United States Open Championships at the International Polo club in
Wellington Sunday afternoon. “I’m not sure how we did it,” he grinned, but we
won.”

Zacara 10-goaler Facundo Pieres scored the first goal of
the game in the opening thirty seconds of play on a 90 yard shot through the goalposts.  Lechuza Caracas tied it up on a goal from Juan
Martin Nero just minutes later and teammate Sapo Caset gave Lechuza Caracas a
2-1 advantage to close out the scoring in the first chukker.

Pieres tied it up at 2-2 just two minutes into the second
chukker but a penalty goal from Caset just a minute later gave the lead back to
Lechuza Caracas, 3-2.  Lechuza Caracas
was pressing to score, with Nero charging in on the goal, but a last second
miscue left the ball on the doormat of the Zacara goal.  Mike Azzaro scooped up the ball and carried
it the length of the field to score for Zacara, 3-3.  Lechuza Caracas took control of the ensuing
throw-in driving it the direction of the Zacara goal.  Team captain Victor Vargas put it through for
the go-ahead goal with 24 seconds on the clock. 
The period ended with Zacara trailing, 4-3.

“We had no space (on the field) in the beginning,” said
Laprida.  “We had no room in which to
operate.  In the third chukker it began
to open up a bit and we got our game going,” he said.

Azzaro jumped a Lechuza Caracas player in their end of
the field and rode down to score a tying goal, 4-4.  Two minutes later Azzaro took advantage of
field position once again to give Zacara a 5-4 lead that they would take into
halftime with them.

“He (Azzaro) played a great game today,” said
Pieres.  He was a brilliant Back and came
through at the appropriate times to carry the ball and score.”

Pieres had been the scoring dynamo for the Zacara team,
averaging 8½ goals a game through Open play, but the Lechuza defense wasn’t
about to let him get going in the finals.

Nero took control of the ball just two minutes into the
second half and carried it through the Lechuza Caracas goal for a 5-5 tie, but
that was when Zacara took over.  Pieres
converted a 40-yard penalty shot for a goal, 6-5, but the Lechuza Caracas
defense shut them down until the final two minutes of the chukker.  Azzaro broke loose once again to score his
fourth goal of the game and give Zacara a 7-5 lead.  With less than a minute to play, Magoo Laprida
found himself on the scoring end of a Pieres pass and Zacara left the field at
the end of the fourth period with a three goal, 8-5 lead.

A determined Lechuza Caracas team took the field in the
fifth, shutting down the Zacara attack and picking up a pair of goals of its
own from Caset.  After five chukkers of
play, Lechuza Caracas trailed Zacara by a single goal, 8-7.

Laprida gave Zacara a two goals lead with his second goal
of the day to open the sixth, and two minutes later Zacara’s team captain,
Lyndon Lea, drove the ball through the Lechuza Caracas goalposts to put Zacara
ahead by three goals, 10-7.  Lechuza
Caracas tried to fight their way back into the game with Caset converting a
40-yard penalty goal, 10-8.  Minutes
later Lechuza Caracas was pounding on the door with a shot on goal hitting the
Zacara goal posts before being cleared by Azzaro and company.  Zacara took control of the remaining minutes
of the game as the clock ran out on a struggling Lechuza Caracas foursome.

“They just played better than we did today,” said Vargas
after the match, “especially in the fifth and sixth chukkers.”

“They’re a very good team,” said a bewildered Juan Martin
Nero, “but I don’t really know what happened today.  We missed a couple of goals, and you just can’t
do that against a team like that.”

Lechuza Caracas wasn’t the only team that missed goals,
Pieres missed a penalty shot in the first and another in the sixth, or it might
not have been that close.

Caset led all scoring with five goals (two on penalty
shots).  Nero scored twice and Vargas
added a goal from the field.

Azzaro scored four times to lead the Zacara effort, and
was named MVP for his efforts.  Pieres
scored three goals (one on a penalty shot). 
Laprida added a pair of goals and Lea scored once in the win.

“It was a wonderful, hard-fought beautiful win,” said “America’s
Most Wanted TV host and polo player, John Walsh, “and for me personally to see
my friend Mike Azzaro play so well and to win MVP honors was so special.”  It was a good day for polo,” he added.

The Open win ties Azzaro with Adolfo Cambiaso for the
most wins of any active player with 6 victories, and may not be his last.

“It’s all about getting ready and peaking at the fright
time,” Azzaro offered.  “I have been
fortunate enough to have been in situations like this before, and having that experience
helped me prepare to peak at just the right moment.”

Lyndon Lea’s 10-year-old chestnut mare Lelani received Best Playing Pony
honors.  Lelani was played by Pieres in the second and the sixth chukkers.