Sebastian Merlos with the ball for Las Monjitas.
(Photo by Alex Pacheco)
Coca-Cola (Gillian Johnston, Sugar Erskine, Pelon Stirling and Julio Arellano) opened the 2015 United States Open Championship with a 9-8 win over Las Monjitas (Camilo Bautista, Sebastian Merlos, Eduardo Novillo Astrada and Facundo Sola) Saturday afternoon at the International Polo Club.
The 26-goal match got underway with little fanfare and less scoring. Eduardo Novillo Astrada scored the first goal of the game for Las Monjitas at the 5:17 mark with several earlier efforts being turned aside by Coca-Cola defenders. Julio Arellano scored the only other goal of the chukker with 52 seconds on the clock for a 1-1 tie.
The pace continued to drag in the second chukker, but the scoring opportunities improved. Ten-goaler Pelon Stirling scored to give Coca-Cola a 2-1 lead with the score coming in the opening 20 seconds of the period. Sebastian Merlos leveled the score once again with the conversion of a 30-yard penalty shot, 2-2. Facundo Sola added another goal with just under three minutes left in the chukker for a 3-2 Las Monjitas lead, but Coca-Cola raced back into the game, 3-3, with a tying goal from Sugar Erskine at the two minute mark. Sola’s second goal of the match ended the chukker with Las Monjitas enjoying a 4-3 advantage.
Penalties got Las Monjitas into trouble in the third period with Arellano converting penalty shots from the 30 and 40-yard lines for a 5-4 Coca-Cola lead. With under two minutes left in the chukker, Sola tied the game at 5-5 to end the first half.
Both defenses were on their toes in the fourth chukker with scoring coming at a premium. Astrada scored the only goal of the chukker to give Las Monjitas the lead back, 6-5.
The fifth chukker belonged to Coca-Cola and Arellano. Arellano tied it up with a goal from the field in the opening 30 seconds of play, 6-6, and tied it up three and-a-half minutes later. With once chukker remaining in regulation play, Coca-Cola was leading by a one goal margin, 7-6.
Arellano’s sixth goal of the game came at the 4:44 mark of the final chukker, and gave Coca-Cola the biggest lead of the game, 8-6, but Las Monjitas wasn’t through. Consecutive goals from Sola at 3:54 and again at 2:41 had it deadlocked at 8-8, and the possibility of an overtime period a likely outcome. With less than 30 seconds left in the game there was a scramble in front of the Las Monjitas goal. Sola backed a shot on goal by Arellano who drove it back through the goalposts for the winning score, 9-8.
Arellano led all scoring with seven goals (three on penalty conversions). Erskine scored once and Stirling added a goal for the win. Sola set the pace for Las Monjitas with five goals. Astrada was credited with two goals and Merlos scored on a 30-yard penalty shot in a losing effort.
US Open play continues at the International Polo Club with three games on tap for Sunday, March 29, with FlexJet (Melissa Ganzi, Nic Roldan, Miguel Novillo Astrada and Magoo Laprida) facing Audi (Marc Ganzi, Rodrigo Andrade, Gonzalito Pieres and Fred Mannix at 10am followed by a noon contest between Orchard Hill (Steve Van Andel, Gallego Ferrario, Polito Pieres and Facundo Pieres) and Valiente (Bob Jornayvaz, Guillermo Terrera, Alejo Taranco and Adolfo Cambiaso). The day’s feature match will pit Lechuza Caracas (Victor Vargas, Nico Pieres, Juan Martin Nero and Agustin Garcia Grossi) against Alegria (Julian Mannix, Hilario Ulloa, Mariano Aguerre and Sterling Giannico).
The 2015 United States Open championship has a field of eight teams and runs from March 28th thru the final on April 19th.