By Alex Webbe
The finals are finally set for the 2012 Nespresso US Open Championships at the International Polo Club in Wellington with Lechuza Caracas defeating Valiente I in overtime by the score of 9-8 while Zacara managed to outlast ERG in a 14-13 shootout. Lechuza will be defending their 2011 title against a talent-laden Zacara foursome that fought its way through the ranks to reach its first US Open final.
In the day’s opener, Lechuza Caracas and Valiente I battled thru six ties before deadlocking at 8-8 in the final chukker of regulation play and forcing a sudden-death overtime period, ultimately resulting in the 9-8 Lechuza victory.
Nacho Astrada put Valiente I on the scoreboard first with a 40-yard penalty conversion in the first minute of play. Juan Martin Nero responded with a goal from the field at the four minute mark as the speed intensified. With less than two minutes to play, Nacho Astrada put Valiente I back on top, 2-1. Lechuza Caracas continued to press with Sapo Caset scoring the tying goal with 29 seconds left in the chukker.
Both teams stiffened their defenses in the second period, but Miguel Astrada had Valiente I ahead once again, 3-2 with his first goal of the day, early in the chukker. Nero’s second goal of the match had it all even at 3-3 when time expired.
Both teams dug in in the third chukker with an escalation in speed and physical contact. About halfway through the period, Nero scored to put Lechuza Caracas in the lead, 4-3. With time running out, Miguel Astrada knotted it up at 4-4 and the teams left the field at the end of the third chukker all even.
Lechuza Caracas managed to take control of the fourth chukker with ten-goalers Caset and Nero battling their way up and down the field while Facundo Obregon was a stalwart on defense for them. Team captain Victor Vargas continued to press the attack, drawing a defender down the field with him. Caset scored two unanswered goals to give Lechuza Caracas a two goal lead. His first goal came from the field and is second on a penalty shot. At the end of four, Lechuza Caracas was on top of a 6-4 score.
After being shut out for the first time all day, Valiente I returned the favor in the fifth while scoring two goals of their own. Nacho Astrada scored the first goal of the chukker in the first 30 seconds of play followed by a goal from the field from Polito Pieres just two minutes later. The two teams battled through the balance of the period with no further goals, leaving the field after five chukkers all tied up at 6-6.
Nero opened the sixth chukker with a goal from the field for a 7-6 Lechuza lead. Nacho Astrada scored on an extreme neck-shot just a minute later, 7-7. Caset gave Lechuza what seemed to be the winning goal on a 60-yard penalty conversion with over three minutes left to play, 8-7. A scramble in front of the Lechuza goal resulted in a foul, and with 45 seconds on the clock, Pieres scored the tying goal, 8-8, forcing the overtime.
The two teams struggled for control of the ball in the early goings before a streaking Obregon found himself on the receiving end of a well-placed pass and heading toward the Valiente I goalposts. With just 80 seconds off of the clock, Obregon scored his first goal of the game for the 9-8 win.
“I was just trying to concentrate on the ball, on the play,” Obregon said after the game. “I wasn’t focused on anything but the ball and the moment.”
The victory gave Vargas and his Lechuza team an opportunity to defend the title they won last year, returning to the finals for only the second time in the last ten years.
Caset and Nero were credited with four goals apiece. Obregon’s game winner was his only goal on the day.
Nacho Astrada led the Valiente I attack with four goals. Miguel Astrada and Pieres each scored a pair of goals in the loss.
ZACARA 14, ERG 13
After rushing out to a 3-0 first chukker lead and leading by four goals, 7-3 after the second Zacara found themselves in a cat fight that they barely managed to hold on to for the 14-13 win.
The smart money had Zacara as the pre-game favorite unless Agustin Merlos got hot. If “Tincho” started connecting with the ball, all bets were off. This is the same player who set a scoring record with 18 goals in one game in the Argentine Open and who set the scoring record in England’s Gold Cup with 50 goals! Backed by Sebastian Merlos and Paco de Narvaez, ERG had managed to break its way into the semifinals with a 12-10 win over Audi.
Zacara was going to rely on Facundo Pieres who scored ten goals in the team’s quarterfinal 13-7 romp over Coca-Cola with heavy support from Magoo Laprida, Mike Azzaro and team captain Lyndon Lea.
Zacara started out strong, and seemed to catch ERG flat-footed, scoring three straight goals in the first chukker from Laprida, Azzaro and Pieres. It wasn’t so much the stellar defensive work that Zacara turned in that kept ERG from scoring as the fact that for most of the opening chukker ERG found themselves on defense. A number of shot that carried wide of the ERG goal posts could have made it worse as Zacara continued to pound away on offense.
Penalties bogged down play in the second chukker with six of the next seven goals coming on penalty shots. Agustin Merlos converted three penalty shots for goals while Pieres scored three times from the penalty line and added a goal from the field for good measure. After two periods of play ERG trailed by four goals, 7-3.
A renewed ERG team took to the field in the third putting immediate pressure on the Zacara goal. Penalties cost Zacara once again, however, with Agustin Merlos converting a pair of penalty shots for goals, cutting the Zacara lead to two goals, 7-5. Halfway through the chukker, Pieres gave Zacara an 8-5 lead with his sixth goal of the game. Sebastian Merlos cut the margin back to two, with his first goal. The first half ended with a resurging ERG team down by just two goals, 8-6.
Laprida put Zacara ahead, 9-6, in the opening minute of the second half, but Agustin Merlos pared that lead back to two goals, 9-7, with another penalty conversion for a goal. Pieres and Agustin Merlos exchanged penalty goals, with Zacara maintaining a two goal lead until the final two minutes of the chukker. Agustin Merlos scored his eighth goal of the game but his first from the field, cutting the Zacara lead to a single goal, 10-9 to end the period.
Pieres and Agustin Merlos exchanged goals in the fifth, with Pieres scoring on a pair of penalty goals and Agustin Merlos scoring once from the field and once from the penalty line. It remained a one goal game, 12-11, going into the final period of regulation play with Zacara in the lead.
At the six minute mark of the final chukker, Sebastian Merlos scored on a 200 yard breakaway, knotting it up at 12-12. Pieres gave the advantage back to Zacara, 13-12 on a 60-yard penalty shot. Laprida gave Zacara a little breathing room with his third goal on the day for a 14-12 edge. Agustin Merlos scored the final goal of the game with two-and-a-half minutes on the clock to cut the Zacara lead back to a single goal, 14-13, and that’s where it ended, with Zacara celebrating the victory.
Agustin Merlos led all scoring with eleven goals (nine on penalty shots). Sebastian Merlos added two goals in the loss.
Pieres was credited with ten goals (seven on penalty conversions). Laprida scored three times and Azzaro added a goal in the win.
The victory boosted Zacara into its first US Open final against Lechuza Caracas on Sunday, April 22 at 4pm at the International Polo Club in Wellington.