Tommy Lee Jones and Supporting Cast Fall to Patagones 13-7
By Alex Webbe
Carlucho Arellano and Gonzalo Avendano scored five goals apiece to power Patagones to a 13-7 win over Tommy Lee Jones’s San Saba team in the second round of play in the Joe Barry Memorial Cup at the International Polo Club in Wellington.
Maybe if the writers weren’t on strike Jones could have convinced them to rewrite the ending of the contest, but that wasn’t the case.
Eight-goaler Mariano Gonzalez scored three the first four goals of the game as Patagones took an early 5-3 lead after the first two chukkers of play.
San Saba was forced to shuffle its alignment, inserting Sapo Caset into the lineup in place of the injured Toto Collardin. Collardin was injured in the team’s last match with Skeeterville, and remains sidelined. Luis Echezareta (3-goals) replaced Inaki Echezareta (4-goals) to make the team handicap limit of 20-goals. The initial feeling was that it would be a stronger team, but things didn’t turn out that way.
Arellano added his second and third goals of the game in the third chukker while a stingy defense kept San Saba off of the scoreboard. Patagones left the field at halftime with a 7-3 lead.
“It took a while to gain control of the game,” said Patagones Gonzalo Avendano, “but I think after the third chukker we had the game well in hand.”
Gonzalez didn’t quite see it that way. “I kept waiting for them (San Saba) to get things going,” he said. “They have some very talented players, and I was just waiting for them to get it together. Fortunately, it didn’t happen.”
Fourth chukker goals from Avendano and Arellano pushed the Patagones lead to 9-3, as they shut down San Saba’s offense for the second consecutive period.
“I have to give sole credit for our success to Mariano (Gonzalez),” said Arellano. “He kept us organized and playing as a team.”
It wasn’t until the fifth chukker that San Saba showed any real signs of life. San Saga 9-goaler Paco de Narvaez scored twice as they held Patagones to a single Gonzalo Avendano goal. Score-10-5, Patagones.
Caset converted a penalty shot from just yards in front of the goal and scored once from the field, but Patagones answered with another goal from Arellano and two more from Avendano to secure the 13-7 win.
Avendano and Arellano led all scoring with five goals apiece. Gonzales added three goals for the win.
Narvaez and Caset scored three goals each in the loss. Teammate Echezareta added a single goal in the loss.
Patagones (1-1) has won the right to face Isla Carroll (1-1) on Sunday with the 3PM game featuring Catamount (1-1) and Bud Light/ERG (1-1).