Jared Zenni (white jersey) on the ball. His father Jim Zenni in pursuit.
(Photo by Alex Pacheco)
In a father-son showdown Villa Del Lago (Jim Zenni, Agustin Obregon, Polito Pieres and Inaki Laprida) met Palm Beach Illustrated (Jared Zenni, Marianito Obregon, Carlucho Arellano and Guille Aguero) in the second semifinal of the 20-goal Iglehart Cup Thursday morning at the International Polo Club.
Palm Beach Illustrated showed great teamwork as coordinated attacks gave them the early 3-0 lead. Marianito Obregon opened the scoring with a 60-yard penalty conversion in the opening minute of play, and followed it up with a goal from the field at 5:05. Another penalty conversion a minute later had Palm Beach Illustrated in front, 3-0. Agustin Obregon (Marianito’s cousin) closed out the chukker with a pair of goals that cut the Palm Beach Illustrated lead to a single goal, 3-2.
A penalty in the opening seconds of the second period sent Polito Pieres to the penalty line where he drove the ball through the goalposts from 60-yards out to tie it at 3-3. Four minutes passed before Marianito Obregon gave the lead back to Palm Beach Illustrated, 4-3. Carlucho Arellano scored with under a minute to play in the chukker as Palm Beach Illustrated left the field with a two goal, 5-3 advantage.
The two teams exchanged goals in the third. Pieres opened the chukker with a penalty goal and added a goal from the field later in the period. Inaki Laprida scored his first goal of the game, but two goals from Carlucho Arellano and a well-placed neck shot from Marianito Obregon kept Palm Beach Illustrated on top, 8-6.
Villa Del Lago tied it up in the fourth with Pieres converting a pair of penalty shots to open the period. Jared Zenni scored on a 150-yard run to goal as Palm Beach Illustrated moved back in front, 9-8. Guille Aguero made it 10-8, but a late Palm Beach Illustrated foul allowed Pieres to score on a short penalty shot with 23 seconds on the clock. With two chukkers left in regulation play, Villa Del Lago trailed by a single goal, 10-9.
Arellano and Agustin Obregon accounted for the only scoring in the fifth. Arellano scored early but Agustin Obregon kept Villa Del Lago in the game with a late goal. Villa Del Lago trailed by a single goal, 11-10.
Arellano gave Palm Beach Illustrated a two goal lead once again with a 40-yard penalty conversion at 5:11 of the sixth in a move that looked to sew up the game, 12-10, but Villa Del Lago wasn’t done. Pieres added his first sixth chukker goal at 2:44 and then pressed the attack, scoring the tying goal with 42 seconds left in regulation time, forcing sudden-death overtime.
Villa Del Lago had the first run at goal in the overtime chukker, but had trouble controlling the ball, Palm Beach Illustrated was all over it with Marianito Obregon jumping on the ball and carrying it through the uprights for the winning goal, 13-12.
The victory sends Palm Beach Illustrated into Saturday’s 1pm Iglehart Cup finals against Los Machitos/Heathcote in the final 20-goal tournament of the season.