By Alex Webbe
Audi (2-0) bounced back from a first half that left them trailing Zacara 5-4 to score an 11-8 win in USPA Piaget Gold Cup play Thursday afternoon at the International Polo Club in Wellington. Zacara (1-1) received one goal by handicap and added to it in the first chukker with a goal from Magoo Laprida while holding Audi scoreless.
Carlos Gracida converted a penalty shot in the second chukker for a 3-1 advantage before Audi got started.
Ten-goaler Facundo Pieres finally got Audi on the scoreboard in the second period with a penalty shot. Moments later Nicolas Pieres scored his first goal of the game and the chukker ended with Zacara holding on to a 3-2 advantage.
The scoring went back and forth in the third chukker. Facundo Pieres scored once from the field and once on a penalty shot with Gracida doing the same for Zacara. At the end of the first half, Zacara held on to a precarious 5-4 lead.
Audi returned to the field with a passion in the fourth chukker. Nicolas Pieres broke through the Zacara defense to tie the game at 5-5. Less than a minute later, Laprida scored to give Zacara a 6-5 edge. Nicolas Pieres scored the final goal of the chukker to knot it up at 6-6.
“We just blew too many opportunities,” said Zacara 8-goaler Jeff Hall. “We played well, we had chances, we just didn’t take advantage of them,” he added.
Laprida’s third goal of the game put Zacara ahead once again, 7-6, but Audi was just getting revved up. Three straight goals from Facundo Pieres ended the period and put Audi up 9-7.
Gracida’s fourth goal of the day cut the lead to a single goal, but once again Zacara fell short. Single goals from Nicolas Pieres and brother Facundo Pieres accounted for the final 11-8 Audi win.
Zacara’s team captain, Lyndon Lea played with his team for the first time in two weeks. Lea had arrived from England earlier in the day to play.
PONY EXPRESS 10, ORCHARD HILL 6
In earlier Gold Cup action, Orchard Hill (0-2) displayed a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde personality, fighting Pony Express (1-1) to a 5-5 first half tie only to be held to a single second half goal in a disappointing 10-6 loss.
Goals from Pablo MacDonough, Lucas Criado and Hector Galindo carried Orchard Hill to a 3-1 lead after the opening chukker.
Pony Express built on a first chukker goal from Matias Magrini with a single goal from Nick Roldan in the second, but Orchard Hill held the lead, 3-2.
Two more goals from Roldan and a goal from 9-goaler Pelon Stirling in the third frame were countered by goals from Orchard Hill’s Steve Van Andel and Galindo. At the end of the first three chukkers of play the teams were even at 5-5.
That was about the end of Orchard Hill. Stirling opened the fourth chukker with a goal followed by another goal from Van Andel, but that would be the last of it. Roldan, Magrini and Stirling would combine for four more goals while shutting out the Orchard Hill offense for the balance of the game.
Roldan led all scoring with five goals. Stirling scored three times and Magrini added two goals in the win.
Van Andel and Galindo scored two goals apiece for Orchard Hill. Criado and MacDonough added single goals.
WHITE BIRCH11, LAS MONJITAS 9
With Scott Swerdlin filling in for team patron Camilo Bautista, Las Monjitas (0-2) fell to White Birch (1-1) in a rain delayed second half in which neither team dominated.
Building on a 6-5 lead when play was suspended, White Birch’s success rested on the shoulders of Argentine 8-goaler Pancho Bensadon’ nine goals to take the game.
Jeff Blake and Mariano Aguerre added single goals for the win.
Nacho Astrada’s six goals led the Las Monjitas team, but he and his teammates came up short at the end of the game, 11-9.
The game was suspended due to rain on Wednesday afternoon with White Birch holding on to a 6-5 lead.
The USPA Piaget Gold Cup competition will continue on Saturday, March 21 with a 3pm contest between Lechuza Caracas (1-1) and Las Monjitas (0-2).