Halcyon Gallery and UAE in Silver Cup semifinal action.
(Photo courtesy of Gonzalo Etcheverry)
Semifinal wins by Ellerston (Johnny Williams, Ali Patterson, Gonzalo Pieres and Facundo Pieres) and Halcyon Gallery (Charley Hanbury, Jota Chavanne, Guillermo Terrera and Max Routledge) set the stage for the finals of the 2013 Silver Cup at Spain’s Santa Maria Polo Club at 5:30PM on Friday afternoon.
Halcyon Gallery improved their record to 4-0 in Silver Cup play with Charlie Hanbury finally joining the lineup following a broken leg suffered in competition during the English season. Matias Bernal had been ably filling in for Hanbury as Halcyon Gallery registered wins over Ayala (12-11), El Rosario (12-11) and Dos Lunas (11-10) to earn a semifinal slot in the tournament.
Halcyon Gallery fell behind early, trailing UAE (HH Sheikha Maitha Al Maktoum, Jack Richardson, Lucas Monteverde and Pablo MacDonough) 3-1 after the first chukker before losing the gap to trail by a single goal at halftime, 6-5.
By the end of the fifth chukker Halcyon had turned the tables on UAE as they took a 9-7 lead.
The two teams traded one another goal for goal in the final seven minutes of play as Halcyon Gallery won their fourth Silver Cup game by a two goal, 11-9 margin.
ELLERSTON 11, SCAPA 9
In the second Silver Cup semifinal match of the day, Facundo and Gonzalito Pieres led Ellerston to an 11-9 victory at the expense of an aggressive Scapa foursome.
Following a 2-1 lead after the opening chukker, Ellerston rode out to a 5-2 advantage after the second chukker and held on to lead, 7-4 at the end of the first half.
Scapa rallied in the fourth as they held Ellerston scoreless while adding three goals of their own. After four chukkers of play the score was all even at 7-7.
Ellerston owned the fifth chukker as they outscored Scapa 3-0 to extend their lead to three goals, 10-7.
The two teams exchanged a couple of goals in the sixth as Ellerston held on for the 11-9 win. The victory boosted Ellerston (3-1) into Friday’s finals against Halcyon Gallery, who will take the field with with an unblemished 4-0 record.