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Audi, Bendabout remain undefeated in US Open Polo Championships play

Audi’s Marc Ganzi opened the scoring with a goal from the field at the four minute mark. Gonzalito Pieres made it 2-0 on a penalty conversion. Agustin Merlos and Eduardo Astrada tied it at 2-2 with single goals from the field, and Merlos closed out the opening chukker with a beautifully executed 180 yard run down the field for the 3-2 go-ahead score.

Second chukker action began with Merlos converting a penalty shot for a goal followed by a pair of goals from Gonzalito Pieres that tied it at 4-4. Ganzi scored the final goal of the chukker for a 5-4 Audi lead.

Penalties continued to get the Audi team into trouble as Merlos converted a pair of penalty shots to open the period giving Las Monjitas a 6-5 advantage. A 40-yard penalty goal from Gonzalito Pieres and another goal from Ganzi (on a pass from Gonzalito Pieres) ended the first half with Audi holding a 7-6 edge over a talented and dangerous Las Monjitas foursome.

Gonzalito Pieres opened the fourth chukker with a 70-yard shot for a goal and Rodrigo Andrade made it 9-6 with his first goal of the game. Merlos converted a penalty shot for a goal and Astrada scored on a 120 yard run for Las Monjitas. Merlos tied the game on another penalty conversion and the chukker ended in a 9-9 tie.

Andrade put Audi up 10-9 with a goal in the fifth followed by a spectacular individual effort by Gonzalito Pieres on a 200-yard run down the field for a score. Las Monjitas was held scoreless and Audi went up, 11-9.

Gonzalito Pieres scored in the opening 30 seconds of the final chukker followed by goals from Ganzi and another goal from Gonzalito Pieres in the goals mouth for a commanding 14-9 lead. Astrada scored again and Merlos added two more goals, but it was Audi with the 14-12 victory.

 

VALIENTE 12, ORCHARD HILL 11

Orchard opened its afternoon meeting in US Open competition with Valiente with a boom. Three straight Orchard Hill goals from Hector Galindo and Lucas Criado (two goals from the field) for a 3-0 lead were tempered by a pair of goals from Polito Pieres and the first chukker ended with Valiente trailing 3-2.

Orchard Hill got single goals from team captain Steve Van Andel and 10-goaler Pablo MacDonough, but Valiente responded with goals from Miguel Astrada and his brother Nacho Astrada. Orchard Hill continued to lead after two chukkers of play, 5-4.

Nacho Astrada tied the score with the first goal of the third chukker and Bob Jornayvaz put Valiente ahead, 6-4, with his first goal of the match. MacDonough tied it again at 6-6, but a foul against Orchard Hill allowed Nacho Astrada to give Valiente a penalty shot, which Nacho Astrada converted for a 7-6 lead. With time running out, MacDonough took a pass from Criado and knotted it up at 7-7 as the final horn sounded.

Both teams tightened up their defenses in the fourth chukker, with a 60-yard penalty conversion from Nacho Astrada accounting for all of the scoring. The teams entered the fifth chukker with Valiente holding a one goal, 8-7 advantage over Orchard Hill.

Nacho Astrada scored the first goal of the fifth chukker to extend the Valiente lead to two goals, 9-7. When Orchard Hill responded by converting a 60-yard penalty shot MacDonough responded with a penalty conversion of his own that brought them to within one goal of the lead, 9-8. A second Valiente goal from Pieres ended the period with Orchard Hill trailing 10-8.

Orchard Hill charged back in the final chukker of play as Criado buried the ball between the Valiente goal posts from over 120 yards out to cut the lead to a single goal, 10-9. A second goal from Criado was scored following the throw-in, and it was all even at 10-1- with over five minutes left to play.

Pieres added another goal at the 4:49 mark and then MacDonough tied it up for the fifth time on a penalty shot to make it 11-11 with just over a minute left in regulation time.

The ball was thrown-in and both teams struggled for control of the ball when Pieres emerged with possession of the ball. Fighting a ride-off and maintaining control of the ball, Pieres managed to carry it through the goal posts for the Valiente as the final horn sounded.

The victory ups the Valiente record to 2-1 while Orchard Hill (0-3) suffered its third loss of the tournament.

 

BENDABOUT 11, PONY EXPRESS 9

 

In what amounted to little more than a practice game in the morning competition, Bendabout remained unbeaten in 2011 US Open play, as it captured an 11-9 game from Pony Express despite the heroic actions of its team captain, Bob Daniels.

It was less than four weeks ago when Daniels was part of a three horse collision that sent him to the hospital with broken ribs and a fractured scapula. Saturday morning, against all odds, Daniels not only returned to the field to play in a US Open contest, but scored five goals to boot.

Daniels opened the scoring in the first chukker with a goal and added another to end the chukker. Pony Express teammate Juan Garcia Grossi scored a goal as well with Bendabout‘s Gillian Johnston scoring to keep her team from being shutout. Pony Express left the field at the end of the first chukker with Daniels in the saddle and holding a 3-1 lead.

Gillian Johnston and Magoo Laprida scored single goals for Bendabout in the second period, but two more goals from Daniels kept Pony Express ahead 5-3 as the chukker ended.

A penalty conversion from Bendabout’s Julio Arellano and a goal Johnston’s third goal of the day had it all even at 5-5 in the third, but the offense was just getting started. A goal from Pony Express 9-goaler, Bautista Heguy, gave Pony Express a 6-5 lead, but the lead was only temporary. Goals from Laprida and Johnston had Bendabout in front 7-6 until Maureen Brennan (substituting for Daniels in the third) tied it up with her only goal of the day. After three chukkers of play, the score was knotted up at 7-7.

Both teams’ defenses tightened up in the fourth, with Bendabout’s Sugar Erskine accounting for the only goal of the period. Bendabout took an 8-7 lead with two chukkers left to play.

Arellano converted another penalty shot for a goal from Bendabout, 9-7, but Daniels, back on the field after a third chukker respite, Daniels scored his fifth goal of the match, cutting the Bendabout lead to a single goal, 9-8, when Laprida responded. Picking up his third goal of the morning match, Laprida put Bendabout up, 10-8. Santiago Chavanne closed out the scoring in the fifth chukker for Pony Express for his first score of the game, and the period ended with Bendabout holding on to a narrow 10-9 lead.

Both teams stepped up their games in the final chukker of play, but it would be Johnston’s fifth goal of the match that would put Bendabout ahead by two goals, 11-9, as time expired.

The win boosted the Bendabout record to 3-0 while Pony Express falls to 0-3.

 

 

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