Faraway’s Mariano Gonzalez scored seven goals in a losing effort for Faraway.
Los Machitos/Heathcote (Steve Lefkowitz, Sterling Giannico, Matias Magrini and Hilario Ulloa) lurched out to an early 5-1 lead over Faraway in the semifinals of the 20-goal Iglehart Cup at the International Polo club Wednesday afternoon before riding on to win the game and earn a berth in the final on Saturday against the winner Thursday’s match between Palm Beach Illustrated and Villa Del Lago.
Hilario Ulloa scored three goals from the field in the opening chukker as Los Machitos/Heathcote took the early 3-1 lead. Faraway was held to s single penalty goal (40-yard shot) from Mariano Gonzalez in the first period.
Ulloa scored his fourth goal of the game to open the second chukker, and teammate Matias Magrini made it 5-1 with his first goal of the game. Faraway responded with single goals from Gonzalez and Santiago Chavanne. After two periods of play, Los Machitos/Heathcote sat on top of a 5-3 lead.
Both defenses tightened up in the third. Magrini converted a 40-yard penalty shot for a goal, 6-3. Gonzalez answered back for Faraway with a short penalty shot that ended the first half with Faraway trailing by two goals, 6-4.
The two teams traded goals in the fourth period. Magrini scored twice for Los Machitos/Heathcote while Gonzalez did the same for Faraway. All four goals were scored on penalty shots. With two chukkers left in regulation play, Los Machitos/Heathcote remained in control in an 8-6 game.
Ulloa and Magrini (40-yard penalty conversion) scored the first two goals of the fifth period to give Los Machitos/Heathcote a four goal advantage, 10-6. Gonzalez cut the lead back to three, 10-7 with his sixth goal of the match. Ulloa added another goal from the field, 11-7, but it was a penalty goal from Gonzalez that ended the chukker with Faraway down by three goals, 11-8.
Sterling Giannico got into the scoring side of things for Los Machitos/Heathcote in the sixth period by scoring twice from the field and extending the lead to five goals, 13-8. Single goals from Chavanne and Faraway team captain Hutton Goodman cut the deficit back to three goals, but that was as close as they could get when the final horn sounded.
Gonzalez led all scoring with seven goals (six scored on penalty conversions). Chavanne scored twice and Goodman added a goal in the loss. Ulloa led the Los Machitos/Heathcote scoring with six goals. Magrini added five and Giannico was credited with two goals for the win.
Iglehart Cup play continues on Thursday when Villa Del Lago (Jim Zenni, Agustin Obregon, Polito Pieres and Inaki Laprida) meets Palm Beach Illustrated (Jared Zenni, Guille Aguero, Marianito Obregon and Carlucho Arellano) in a 10am contest to decide the other Iglehart Cup finalist.