Ellerston 10-goaler Facundo Pieres
(Photo courtesy of Gonzalo Etcheverry)
Jamie Packer’s Ellerston polo team (Johnny Williams, Ali Patterson, Gonzalo Pieres and Facundo Pieres) jumped out to an early 5-1 lead in the opening chukker as they put everyone on notice as to what the two 10-goalers were capable of on the field.
Dos Lunas (A Sainzde Vicuna, Jason Warren, Diego Cavanagh and Tomas Garcia Del Rio) appeared unsettled in the first chukker, but returned to the field a more relaxed and confident force. Dos Lunas took control of the game in the second period, outscoring Ellerston 4-1, and trailed by a single goal, 6-5.
While the Ellerston offense stagnated, Dos Lunas got on track. Four more goals in the third period went unanswered as Dos Lunas left the field at the end of the first half on the winning end of a 9-6 score.
Whether they brought out the “good horses” of just focused on matters at hand, Ellerston got back on track in the fourth chukker. Ellerston scored five times while limiting the Dos Lunas offense to a single goal. At the end of the fourth period Ellerstina held a one goal lead, 11-10.
The two teams matched one another goal-for-goal in the fifth period, with each team putting three goals on the scoreboard. Dos Lunas continued to press and Ellerston continued to defend as sixth chukker action took center stage. The Pieres brothers put on a show for all in attendance, adding two more goals to their total in the 16-14 victory.
HALCYON GALLERY 12, AYALA 11 OT
Halcyon Gallery (Charley Hanbury, Oliver Cudmore, Guillermo Terrera and Max Routledge) scored their first win of the Silver Cup with a hard fought 12-11 win over Ayala (Inigo Zobel, Guillermo Willington, Pablo MacDonough and Juan Jauretche) that was decided in sudden-death overtime.
The score was tight in the opening chukkers with Ayala eking out a 6-5 lead at the end of the first half.
Halcyon Gallery scored four goals in the fourth chukker while Ayala managed just two. At the end of the period, Halcyon took a 9-8 lead.
Both defenses were at their best in the fifth. Ayala was blanked while Halcyon Gallery managed a single goal. The lead has been stretched to two goals, 10-8.
Ayala stormed the field in the sixth period, scoring three goals while Halcyon Gallery managed only a single goal. The score was all even at the end of regulation time, and a sudden-death overtime period was played.
The last half rally by Ayala fell short in overtime as Halcyon Gallery scored the winning goal in the 12-11 game.
UAE 21, EL ROSARIO 11
Alejandro Penafiel’s El Rosario team (Alejandro Penafiel, Valerio Zubiaurre, Milo Fernandez and Salvador Ulloa) took it on the chin today in Silver Cup play as UAE (Tommy Beresford, Jack Richardson, Lucas Monteverde and Pablo MacDonough) pummeled them in a 21-11 rout.
UAE was playing with Tommy Beresford in place of HH Sheikha Maitha Al Maktoum. He will play with UAE for the balance of the week.
Play will continue in Silver Cup play at the Santa Maria Polo Club on Wednesday with two matches scheduled on the day. Royal Salute (1-0) is scheduled to face Scapa (1-0) followed by a match between HB Polo (0-1) and Dubai (0-1).