It took a little while to get in rhythm, but Piaget got their act together in the second half of Friday’s Butler Handicap semifinals and snuck past Orchard Hill in an 11-10 thriller.
Miguel Astrada converted a 60-yard penalty shot to open the game and teammate Sapo Caset scored a goal from the field. Orchard Hill was held scoreless and Piaget left the field at the end of the first chukker with an early 2-0 lead.
Nacho Badiola scored his first goal of the day for a 3-0 Piaget lead, but Orchard Hill charged back into the game with single goals from brothers Pablo MacDonough and Matias MacDonough. The chukker ended with Orchard Hill trailing by a single goal, 3-2.
Orchard Hill took control of the field in the third period. A pair of penalty conversions from Matias MacDonough and a goal from the field from Pablo MacDonough went unanswered. At the end of the first half Orchard Hill was on top, 5-3.
Matias MacDonough scored his fourth (penalty conversion) and fifth goals of the game in the fourth while Piaget had to settle for a single goal from Badiola. With two chukkers left in regulation time, Piaget trailed, 7-4.
The Piaget offense began to click in the fifth period. A pair of goals from Astrada and single goals from Caset and Badiola were countered by a pair of penalty goals from Matias MacDonough. Piaget cut the Orchard Hill lead to a single goal, 9-8, going into the final chukker.
Pablo MacDonough’s third goal of the game extended the Orchard Hill lead to two goals, 10-8, when Piaget came alive. Badiola opened up the counter attack with a goal from the field, 10-9. Caset converted a short penalty shot for a goal to tie it up, but time was running out. In the final seconds of the match, Caset streaked through the goal posts the ball with 32 seconds on the clock for the come-from-behind 11-10 win.
Caset and Badiola scored four goals apiece for Piaget. Astrada was credited with three goals in the win. Orchard Hill got seven goals from Matias Macdonough (six on penalty shots) and Pablo MacDonough scored three times in the loss.
The win boosts Piaget into Sunday’s noon finals against ERG for the Butler Handicap.