By Alex Webbe

Julio Arellano scored seven times in leading Bendabout to an easy 12-7 win over Piaget in 26-goal action in the 2011 C. V. Whitney Cup at the International Polo Club in Wellington.

Bendabout spotted Piaget two goals by handicap, but wasted little time in making up ground.  First chukker goals from Gillian Johnston, Adam Snow and Arellano, was complimented by shutout defense.  The first chukker ended with Bendabout ahead, 3-2.

Arellano added two more goals in the second while a struggling Piaget offense settled for a 60-yard penalty conversion from Lolo Castagnola.  The period ended with Bendabout holding a 5-3 advantage.

Third chukker goals from Arellano and Snow upped the Bendabout lead to four goals at the end of the first half, 7-3, as Piaget continued to have trouble  getting its attack in order.

Magoo Laprida scored Bendabout’s eighth goal of the game in the fourth chukker, but Nachi Heguy tallied two consecutive goals for Piaget, and cut the lead to three goals, 8-5.

Castagnola scored from the field to open the fifth, but Laprida answered back with a goal of his own.  Heguy converted a penalty shot for a goal, and the chukker ended with Piaget creeping closer and closer.  Bendabout continued to lead, but the margin was cut to two goals, 9-7.

Either out of horses or out of gas, Piaget struggled through a final chukker that saw Arellano add three more goals to the Bendabout pot for a 12-7 winning score.

Bendabout will face the winner of Friday’s Audi-Valiente game for a berth in next Wednesday’s tournament semifinals.

HAWKS 11, ZACARA 10

In a penalty -laden match, the Hawks emerged victorious over Zacara, 11-10, in the 26-goal 2011 C. V. Whitney Cup at the International Polo Club in Wellington.

The game was slow to start with each team being held to a single penalty goal in the first chukker of play.  Fred Mannix chipped through a short penalty shot to put the Hawks on top early, but 10-goaler Facundo Pieres evened it up with a 40-yard conversion just minutes later.

The teams battled back and forth in a second period that had eight penalties whistled by the mounted umpires.  Pieres converted two penalty shots for goals for Zacara and got a goal from the field from teammate and fellow 10-goaler, Sebastian Merlos.  The Hawks got a penalty goal from Freddie Mannix and a second goal on a follow-up to a penalty shot by him as well.  Zacara led, 4-3.

Pieres and Merlos each added a goal from the field in the third while limiting the Hawks to a penalty goal from 10-goaler Mariano Aguerre.  Zacara held the lead at halftime, 6-4.

Two more goals from Pieres in the fourth were answered by a goal from Mariano Gonzalez and a penalty conversion from Freddie Mannix.  Zacara maintained the two-goal lead, 8-6.

Freddie Mannix opened the fifth chukker with a goal from the field that cut the lead to a single goal, 8-7.  Mariano Aguerre tied it with his second goal of the game.   Pieres responded by converting a penalty shot for a goal, but that was when the momentum started to shift.  The Hawks continued to batter against the Zacara defense until Julian Mannix (younger brother of Freddie) drove the ball through the goal posts to end the chukker in a 9-9 tie.

Zacara returned to the field in the sixth determined to wrest control of the game back, but that was not to be.  Aguerre converted a 60-yard penalty shot for a goal to give the Hawks its first lead of the game, and then buried an angled shot through the goal posts to make it a two point lead, 11-9.

Zacara continued to desperately press the Hawks’ defense as time was running out.  A final Hawks foul resulted in a 60-yard penalty conversion by Pieres, and the game ended with the Hawks on top, 11-10.

“The team went well today,” offered Hawks team captain, Freddie Mannix.  “I thought I was a little weak in the first half, but under the direction of Mariano (Aguerre) we got it together in the last three chukkers.”

The win puts the Hawks in next Wednesday’s semifinals against the winner of Friday’s Lechuza-Pony Express match.

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