Brothers (L to R) Facundo Pieres and Gonzalito Pieres battle one another in the opening round of play in the 2017 USPA Gold Cup. (Photo by Alex Pacheco)
Valiente (Bob Jornayvaz, Matias Torres Zavaleta, Diego Cavanagh and Adolfo Cambiaso) opened the 2017 USPA Gold Cup with an 11-10 win over a contentious Coca-Cola lineup (Gillian Johnston, Julian de Lusarreta, Julio Arellano and Miguel Astrada) Sunday morning at the International Polo Club.
First chukker goals from Diego Cavanagh (40-yard penalty conversion) and Matias Torres Zavaleta gave the early lead to Valiente as Coca-Cola struggled to find an offensive rhythm. Miguel Novillo Astrada finally got Coca-Cola on the scoreboard with just 20 seconds on the clock to trail Valiente, 2-1.
Adolfo Cambiaso continues to prove to be the player to beat on the field as he led his Valiente team to an 11-10 win. (Photo by Alex Pacheco)
Valiente owned the second chukker following Julio Arellano tied the game at 2-2 , scoring a goal from the field at the first minute of play, but Valiente stormed back. Cavanagh gave Valiente the go-ahead goal, 3-2, with just over five minutes left in the second period and added two more on penalty conversions from 60 and 30-yards. Adolfo Cambiaso scored his first goal of the game as Valiente surged to a 6-2 lead.
A regrouped Coca-Cola attack returned to the field in the third chukker and took control of the game. Astrada scored the first goal of the period followed by three consecutive goals (two on penalty conversions) from Arellano. A determined Coca-Cola defense shut down the Valiente offense, ending the first half deadlocked at 6-6.
Two more Coca-Cola goals in fourth chukker (Julian de Lusarreta and Astrada) were countered by a single Cambiaso goal as Valiente found themselves trailing 8-7 at the end of the period.
Cavanagh and Gillian Johnston exchanged goals in the opening minute of the fifth before Cambiaso stepped his game up. A goal from the field from Cambiaso tied it at 9-9, and a 40-yard penalty goal from Cavanagh had Valiente back into the lead, 10-9, with one chukker left in regulation play.
Defenses were the key in the final period of play, with Coca-Cola committing a critical four in the opening minute resulting in a Penalty 1, and the awarding of a goal that gave Valiente a two-goal lead, 11-9. Coca-Cola continued to press the attack in the final minutes of the game, with a penalty goal from Arellano cutting the Valiente lead back to a single, 11-10, at the 4:20 mark, but that would be as close as they would come, with Valiente celebrating the 11-10 victory.
Cavanagh led the Valiente attack with six goals (four on penalty shots). Cambiaso was credited with three goals; Zavaleta scored once and the team received a goal on a Penalty 1. Arellano’s five goals set the pace for Coca-Cola. Astrada added three goals with de Lusarreta and Johnston scoring single goals in the loss.
Orchard Hill 8, Audi 7
In the second Gold Cup match of the day, Audi (Marc Ganzi, Tomas Pieres, Gonzalito Pieres and Rodrigo Andrade) led through much of the game, and despite a 4-4 halftime tie, held Orchard Hill (Polito Pieres, Juan Chavanne, Facundo Pieres and Steve Van Andel) scoreless in the fourth and fifth chukkers for a 6-4 advantage.
An exciting sixth period comeback that saw 10-goaler Facundo Pieres score four goals gave the 8-7 win to Orchard Hill.
Facundo Pieres led all scoring with seven goals (four on penalty shots). Polito Pieres added a goal for the victory. Gonzalito Pieres and Rodrigo Andrade scored three goals apiece in the loss. Tomas Pieres was also credited with a goal for Audi.
Gold Cup action continues with two games scheduled to be played on Sunday, March 19th with Orchard Hill (1-0) facing Valiente (1-0) in a noon contest followed by a 3pm match between Coca-Cola (0-1) and Audi (0-1).