Diego Cavanagh scored a game high 11 goals in Dubai’s 14-9 win over UAE Polo Friday afternoon.
Lucchese (John Muse, Lucas James, Nico Pieres and Luke Tomlinson) rode onto the field today with a 2-0 record to face a winless (0-2) El Remanso team (Hugo Lewis, Charlie Hanbury, Pelon Stirling and Guillermo Terrera) that was hungry for a win. The first half went Lucchese’s way, with Argentine 8-goaler Nico Pieres leading the way to an 8-5 halftime lead before registering their third consecutive win in the 2014 Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup for the British Open, 11-9.
Lucchese took control early, leading 5-3 at the end of the second chukker and riding out to an 8-5 halftime lead.
A regrouped El Remanso foursome changed strategies in second half play. Three fourth chukker goals and shutout defense had El Remanso knocking on the door, trailing by a single goal, 8-7, going into the fifth chukker.
The two teams traded goals in the fifth. Nico Pieres scored his sixth and seventh goals of the match (both on penalty conversions) with El Remanso 10-goaler Pelon Stirling responding with a pair of goals (one on a penalty shot) to keep the game close, 10-9.
Both defenses stepped it up in the final seven minutes of play with long shots going just wide of the goal posts for both sides. Lucas James scored the insurance goal for Lucchese n the waning minutes of the chukker for the 11-9 final.
The victory lifts the Lucchese record to 3-0 while El Remanso suffered their third consecutive British Open loss against no wins.
DUBAI 14, UAE POLO 9
The UAE Polo Team (Max Hutchinson, Matias Benoit, Pablo MacDonough and Ollie Cudmore) played Zacara closely less than a week ago, losing by a single goal, 10-9, after leading through much of the match. Facing a Cambiaso led Dubai (Tommy Beresford, Alastair Paterson, Adolfo Cambiaso and Diego Cavanagh) team, however, would certainly test their mettle.
Dubai took control of the game early on. Diego Cavanagh scored three times (twice on penalty shots) to put Dubai in front, 3-1. Argentine 10-goaler Pablo MacDonough converted a penalty shot for UAE Polo. With seconds remaining on the clock, Matias Benoit scored from the field on a long run to cut the Dubai lead to a single goal, 3-2.
UAE Polo’s Ollie Cudmore scored from the opening throw-in of the second chukker, 3-3. Adolfo Cambiaso answered with a goal for Dubai, 4-3Cudmore closed out the period with a second goal that knotted the score at 4-4.
The Dubai defense put an end to the UAE Polo scoring in the third chukker while Cavanagh added two more goals to the pot (one on a 40-yard penalty conversion). At the end of the first half Dubai held a 6-4 advantage over UAE Polo.
The Dubai offense exploded in the fourth chukker, outscoring UAE Polo 4-1 and extending their lead to five goals, 10-5. Single goals from Cambiaso and Alastair Paterson were joined by a pair from Cavanagh for Dubai. MacDonough scored on a 60-yard penalty shot for UAE Polo’s only goal of the period.
Benoit scored the opening goal of the fifth period from the field, 10-6, but Cavanagh responded with back to back goals for Dubai, 12-6. Cudmore scored for the third time on the day, 12-7, but a 30-yard penalty conversion by Cavanagh left Dubai on top by six goals, 13-7.
Final chukker action had Cavanagh score his eleventh goal of the game on a 60-yard penalty conversion, 14-7. Single goals by Max Hutchinson and MacDonough, 14-9, ended the game with Dubai remaining undefeated at 3-0. The loss was the second for UAE Polo in three games, 1-2.
ENIGMA 12, TALANDRACAS 9
The final match of the day featured a powerful Talandracas team (Edouard Carmignac, Juan Martin Nero, Polito Pieres and Santiago Stirling) struggling to reassert their dominance in British Open play after appearing in the finals of the Cartier Queens Cup. Carrying an unimpressive 1-1 record onto the field, Talandracas needed a big win over an Enigma team (Jerome Wirth, Chris Mackenzie, Sapo Caset and Guillermo Willington) that hadn’t won a game, 0-2.
In an uneventful opening chukker, Enigma team captain Jerome Wirth was credited with the only goal of the chukker for a 1-0 lead over Talandracas.
Things got no better for Edouard Carmignac’s charges in the second period as they watched Enigma score three more goals. Talandracas was unable to patch together a successful scoring effort in the second chukker and trailed 4-0.
Talandracas appeared to get back into the game in the third. Two goals went unanswered and the first half ended with Enigma leading, 4-2.
Guillermo Willington opened the second half with a penalty conversion, 5-2, and Sapo Caset followed up with a beautifully executed cut shot for a goal that had Enigma in the lead, by four goals, 6-2. Willington added another goal from the field, 7-2, before Talandracas could respond. Polito Pieres kept Talandracas from getting shut out again, and with two chukkers left to play Enigma held a commanding 7-3 advantage.
The chemistry between Talandracas 10-goaler Juan Martin Nero and Polito Pieres finally seemed to click in the fifth. Nero, Pieres and Santiago Stirling each scored a goal from the field, with Pieres adding a 60-yard penalty conversion. Two goals from the field from Willington kept enigma in the lead, 9-7.
Caset converted a 30-yard penalty shot in the opening minutes of the sixth chukker, 10-7, before consecutive goals from Pieres and Nero had Talandracas trailing by a single goal, 10-9, but that would be as close as they would ever get. Caset added another penalty goal and a goal from the field for the 12-9 final victory for Enigma. Talandracas fell to 1-2 with the loss with Enigma registering their first win of the 2014 Veuve Clicquot Gold cup for the British Open.
Tournament play continues on Saturday with the Black Bears (Guy Schwarzenbach, Facundo Sola, John Paul Clarkin and Patrick O’Dwyer) playing HB Polo (Ludovic Pailloncy, Ignacio Toccalino, Pite Merlos and Sebastien Pailloncy) at 3PM followed by a battle between King Power (“Top” Srivaddhanaprabha, Pablo Llorente, Gonzalito Pieres and Marcos di Paola) and El Rosario (Alejandro Penafiel, Salvador Ulloa, Francisco Elizalde and Rob Archibald).