By Alex Webbe
Skeeterville came out on the winning end of a back and forth battle with Black Watch for a berth in the finals of the 2008 USPA Piaget Gold Cup at the International Polo Club in Wellington Wednesday afternoon.
The game was tied seven times as Skeeterville paced the attack with a game high seven goals enroute to an 11-9 win over Black Watch.
According to 7-goaler Owen Rinehart, the Skeeterville game plan was to “come out confident, come out upbeat”.
“We want to take advantage of the confidence we got from our last win,” said the former 10-goaler. “We want to establish ourselves on the field.”
The confidence seemed to be present for both teams, as the contest was tied seven times before Adam Snow gave Skeeterville a 10-9 lead in the final chukker. Moments later, the sure-shooting Julio Arellano converted his second penalty shot of the chukker for the final 11-9 winning margin.
The game was tied 3-3 at the end of the second chukker; 5-5 at halftime; and 7-7 at the end of four chukkers of play.
Arellano led the Skeeterville team with six penalty conversions and a goal from the field. Rinehart added two goals and Snow and team captain Will Johnston added single goals for the win.
Matias MacDonough scored three goals for Black Watch. Teammates Nacho Figueras and Pablo MacDonough scored two goals apiece, with Neil Hirsch adding a single goal.
The win will pit Skeeterville against Las Monjitas in the 3 pm Sunday finals of the Gold Cup.
In earlier action Las Monjitas upset the lofty Adolfo Cambiaso and his Crab Orchard team 12 to 9 to capture the other spot in Sunday’s finals.
The teamwork of the Astrada brothers and team patron Camilo Bautista proved to be too much for Crab Orchard, who trailed for much of the first half.
It wasn’t until Crab Orchard scored four unanswered goals in the fourth chukker that it found its way back into the game.
Las Monjitas came back in the fifth period with two goals from Javier Astrada and a single goal from brother Eduardo Astrada. Nachi Heguy’s penalty goal was the only scoring Crab Orchard could muster, and the score was tied at 9-9.
The sixth period always seemed to belong to Cambiaso, but not today. With Crab Orchard Trailing 11-9 and two minutes left to play, Cambiaso had the opportunity to convert a 30-yard penalty shot and get his team right back into the game. The shot went wide, and an ensuing Las Monjitas knock-in resulted in another scoring drive.
A stubborn Las Monjitas defense shut down the talented 10-goaler, and single goals from Eduardo, Javier and Nacho Astrada ended the game with Las Monjitas on top of a 12-9 score.