INDIO –-JRD Washington Lettuce couldn’t muster the muscle Sunday in the 12-goal league featured match at Eldorado Polo Club, wilting 10-6 under an unrelenting assault by Cotterel Farms back doors Mariano Gutierrez and Luis Saracco. The loss leaves Lettuce with a disappointing 0-6 record in the league and out of contention for the bronze.
Down 0-1 before the clock began ticking on a handicap goal awarded to Cotterel, Lettuce never emerged from a deficit that swelled—and held–to four goals in the second half. With six-goaler Marcos Llambias at No. 3 and five-goaler Agustin Zavaleta at No. 4, Lettuce leveraged most of its talent in the back, exposing a lightweight offense that crumpled under the crush of Cotterel’s omnipresent Gutierrez, who is rated at five goals. Zavaleta led scoring for Lettuce with four goals, three from the field.
Cotterel Farms tightened its grip on Lettuce in the third and fourth chukkers shutting down scoring and advancing on a pair of field goals by Gutierrez. Cotterel’s defense allowed just three shots on goal in those 15 minutes of play. Zavaleta’s long offside missed the mark from 70 yards on the first. Llambias returned a back shot fired into the pack by Cotterel’s Ignacio Saracco and connected with a shot that rolled just wide. But the most painful was on the long run Zavaleta took toward goal from a knock-in– when his final shot was blocked by Gutierrez. Lettuce’s No. 2 Mehrdad Beghai called a brief time out in the third to walk off an apparent injury.
The reported “shot of the day,” however, went to Zavaleta midway through the second chukker. Following a lofty 150-yard bomb that went wide on a penalty five conversion attempt, Zavaleta picked up Gutierrez on knock-in for the steal. Turning, he looked up, prepared for the release and found no receiver. Powering it off to the right, Zavaleta pursued, Gutierrez bumped and dropped on the line for the clearing shot to the corner. Zavaleta rushed to the corner, shook off Saracco in the process and hit a 70-yard plus backshot right through the posts.
Saracco and Gutierrez controlled much of the fifth chukker, managing two goals and six turnovers aided by No. 2 Ignacio Saracco to end the chukker at 9-5. Ignacio Saracco put one on the boards for Cotterel with 4:57 remaining to widen the lead the five, and Lettuce patron George Dill closed out the match on a short penalty three conversion.
In the standings, Valiente, the Hawks and Windsor Capital are in a three-way tie for first at 4-2 apiece while Palm Desert edged into fourth with a 3-3 record. On Friday, Valiente will meet Palm Desert, Windsor Capital and the Hawks will play Saturday and the winners of each will play Sunday’s featured afternoon match, Polo Manager Susan Stovall said.
Sunday is Hat Day at Eldorado Polo Club.
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Submitted By Diane Hensley
Diane Hensley can be reached at dkheditor@msn.com