Polito Pieres scores two, 2-pointers for the Saturday win.
The 2014 Outback 40-Goal Challenge, featuring some of the best polo players in the world, took place on Saturday afternoon at the International Polo Club in support of the Polo Players Support Group. The annual event is the major fund-raiser for the PPSG that has offered financial assistance to 48 players and grooms to the tune of nearly $1.5 million over the course of the last dozen years.
This year Polo Pieres scored two 2-point goals in the last 1:12 of the game to salvage an 11-10 win for his EFG Bank team (Adolfo Cambiaso, Polito Pieres, Pablo MacDonough and Miguel Novillo Astrada) at the expense of an Equus & Co. team (Facundo Pieres, Sapo Caset, Gonzalo Pieres and Juan Martin Nero) that led for most of the game.
Miguel Astrada scored the opening goal of the game to give EFG Bank the early lead, 1-0, but Gonzalito Pieres put Equus & Co. on top, 2-1 with a two-point shot (in this exhibition match a two-point line has been marked on the field that is 70-yards from the goal. Any shot from behind that line counts as two points if it goes through the goalposts). Juan Martin Nero extended the Equus & Co. lead with his first goal of the game, 3-1. Pablo MacDonough cut into the lead with a goal from the field with just 46 seconds left in the period, 3-2.
Facundo Pieres drilled a 90-yard shot through the goalposts early in the second chukker that added another two points to the Equus & Co. total, 5-2. Goals from Polito Pieres and Astrada cut the Equus & Co. down to a single goal, 5-4, with Sapo Caset adding another goal to the total for a 6-4 advantage after two periods of play.
Astrada changed the dynamics of the game with a two-point goal at the 6:08 mark of the third chukker. Nero’s goal from the field just a minute later would be the final goal of a defensively-oriented period. Equus & Co. rode off the field at the end of the first half on the winning end of a 7-6 score.
Goals from Caset, Nero and Facundo Pieres stretched the Equus & Co. lead to four goals, 10-6, with just 2:39 left in the period. Polito Pieres managed to rack up a single goal at the two minute mark. Equus & Co.
rode off the field with a 10-7 edge on a talented EFG Bank lineup.
All four players showed their defensive prowess in the fifth. Caset and Polito Pieres continued to attempt 2-point shots at goal, but the chukker ended up scoreless, with EFG Bank still trailing by three goals, 10-7. To all in attendance it looked to be an Equus & Co. victory, but there was no let up to the EFG Bank team. Held scoreless for the first five minutes of the game, Polito Pieres managed to convert a pair of two pointers into the winning margin in an 11-10 EFG Bank win.
EFG Bank’s Polito Pieres set the pace for the game as he picked up six points on a pair of goals and two two-pointers. Astrada scored two goals from the field and a two-pointers for four points, and Nero added a single goal in the opening chukker. Equus & Co. got three goals from Nero and Facundo Pieres. Teammates Gonzalito Pieres and Caset each scored twice in the loss.
GRAND CHAMPIONS 2, SANTA CLARA 0.
Prior to the “big boys” taking the field, a two chukker match was played that featured a number of the sons, daughters, nephews and nieces of today’s polo greats.
Adolfito Cambiaso, Jr., scored the first goal of the game to put his Grand Champion’s team (Adolfito Pieres, Mia Cambiaso, Lucas Lalor, Jr. and Matias MacDonough) fell behind as Cambiaso himself watched from the sidelines (groin injury).
Grand Champions scored two goals on the day while holding Equus & Co. scoreless for the final 2-0 win.