Argentine 10-goaler Gonzalito Pieres powered a second half rally for King
Facundo Pieres scored 12 goals Monday afternoon in Zacara’s 15-6 win over Enigma.
Power (“Top” Srivaddhanaprabha, Pablo Llorente, Gonzalito Pieres and Marcos di Paola) as they registered their first win of the 2014 Cartier Queens Cup with a 12-7 win over HB Polo (Ludovic Pailloncy, Ignacio Toccalino, Pite Merlos and Sebastien Pailloncy) Monday afternoon at Billingbear Park.
HB Polo led early (receiving two goals by handicap), going in front 3-2 after the first chukker and 5-3 after the second when things turned around for King Power. HB Polo was outscored 3-1 in the third chukker, ending the first half all even at 6-6.
King Power added three more goals in the fourth period while limiting the HB Polo attack to a single goal. After four chukkers of play King Power led, 9-7.
A disciplined King Power defense held HB Polo at bay, keeping them off of the scoreboard for both the fifth and the sixth chukkers. King Power added two more goals in the fifth and one in the sixth for the 12-7 final.
Gonzalito Pieres led all scoring with five goals on the day, improving the King Power record to 1-1 and keeping their playoff hopes alive. HB Polo suffered their third consecutive loss and was eliminated from the competition.
Zacara remains undefeated in
After a start that had Zacara (Facundo Pieres, Lyndon Lea, Gonzalo Deltour and Matt Perry) leading 3-1 after the opening chukker of the 3pm Cartier Queens Cup match at The Guards Polo Club, the defending champion put it in high gear and raced past a previously unbeaten Enigma polo team (Jerome Wirth, Chris Mackenzie, Sapo Caset and Guillermo Willington), extending the lead to 6-2 after the second on their way to a commanding 9-3 halftime lead.
Facundo Pieres seemed oblivious to the rain and wet field conditions as he expertly carried the ball from one spot to another, pressuring the Enigma defense and running up the Zacara score as he scored one goal after another.
Three more Zacara goals had them in front by seven, 12-5, after the fourth with Enigma having no answers for Pieres who seemed to be playing at another level.
Zacara scored the only goal of the fifth period as field conditions continued to deteriorate under the steady rain. With one chukker left to play, Zacara was up by eight goals, 13-5.
There was no let up by the Zacara attack as they added two more goals in the final chukker for the 15-6, nine goal win. Facundo Pieres scored all but three of his team’s fifteen goals, giving him a total of 17 goals in just two games..
The victory puts Zacara solidly atop the League Three standings at 2-0. Enigma slipped to 2-1 followed by Sifani and King Power with 1-1 records. HB Polo is a distant fifth at 0-3.
Cartier Queens Cup play is scheduled to continue on Tuesday in League Two action with Lucchese (John Muse, Lucas James, Nico Pieres and Luke Tomlinson) playing Black Bears (Guy Schwarzenbach, Facundo Sola, John Paul Clarkin and Patrick O’Dwyer) at noon followed by a battle between UAE (Maitha Al Maktoum, Lucas Monteverde, Pablo MacDonough and Ollie Cudmore) and Talandracas (Edouard Carmignac, Juan Martin Nero, Polito Pieres and Santiago Stirling) at 3pm.
At present UAE sits on top of the League Two standings at 1-0. Cortium, Talandracas and Lucchese are all tied for second place with 1-1 records. Black Bears enter Tuesday play at 0-1.