L to R-Valiente’s Santi Torres and Orchard Hill’s Santiago Chavanne battle for the ball in Saturday’s action.
(Photo by Alex Pacheco)
Valiente (Bob Jornayvaz, Santi Torres, Sapo Caset and Adolfo Cambiaso) held a 6-5 halftime lead over Orchard Hill (Steve Van Andel, Santiago Chavanne, Pablo MacDonough and Matias MacDonough) Saturday afternoon in second round play of the 2014 Maserati US Open Championship at the International Polo Club.
In a choppy game that meted out nearly 40 fouls Valiente managed to outlast Orchard Hill to maintain a perfect 2-0 record. The loss was Orchard Hill’s second without a win, and will make any playoff hopes for Steve Van Andel’s team an uphill battle.
Ten-goaler Pablo MacDonough scored the first goal of the game on a 40-yard penalty shot to go up 1-0. Cambiaso responded with a goal for Valiente that had it all even at 1-1. Pablo MacDonough’s second goal of the game came at the 2:51 mark and gave the lead back to Orchard Hill, 2-1. Sapo Caset tied it up with his first goal of the game in with just 37 seconds on the clock. The first chukker ended in a 2-2 deadlock.
Valiente added single goals from the field from Santi Torres and Caset, but fouls cost them dearly. Pablo MacDonough converted another 40-yard penalty shot for a goal while teammate Santiago Chavanne scored two more foul shots to give Orchard Hill a 5-4 lead at the end of the second chukker.
The Valiente defense stepped it up a notch in the third, shutting down the Orchard Hill attack. Cambiaso scored his first goal of the chukker less than a minute into play and added a second goal with 2:28 left to play. At the end of the first half Valiente was in possession of a narrow 6-5 lead.
The two teams matched one another goal for goal in the fourth. Caset converted penalty shots from 30-yards and 40-yards and Cambiaso scored his fourth goal from the field. Pablo MacDonough did his scoring from the penalty line once again, converting three shots for Orchard Hill and keeping them within a goal of the lead, 9-8.
Consecutive penalty goals from Pablo MacDonough tied Valiente, 9-9, and then took the lead, 10-9. Caset kept it even at 10-10 with a penalty conversion of his own with just 39 seconds in the chukker. With one chukker left in regulation play the score was all even at 10-10.
Cambiaso’s fifth goal of the game came in the opening minute of the sixth chukker, breaking the tie and giving Valiente an 11-10 edge. At 4:50 Torres scored to make it 12-10. Caset converted a 40-yard penalty shot as Valiente moved in front by three goals, 13-10. Matias MacDonough scored on a great individual effort, 13-11, but Cambiaso put the icing on the cake with a powerful goal in the final 16 seconds for the 14-11 victory.
Cambiaso and Caset scored six goals apiece for Valiente. Torres added a pair of goals for the win. Pablo MacDonough scored a game high eight goals (seven on penalty conversions). Chavanne added two penalty goals and Matias MacDonough scored once from the field. Of Orchard Hill’s 11 goals, nine of them came on penalty shots.
Maserati US Open action continues on Sunday with Audi (Marc Ganzi, Gonzalito Pieres, Rodrigo Andrade and Gonzalo Del Tour) facing Coca-Cola (Gillian Johnston, Sebastian Merlos, Julio Arellano and Facundo Obregon) at noon followed by a 3pm contest between Flight Options (Melissa Ganzi, Eduardo Astrada, Miguel Astrada and Alejandro Astrada) and Alegria (Julian Mannix, Clemente Zavaleta, Mariano Aguerre and Hilario Ulloa).