Zacara vs. Orchard Hill

04/08/2012, 4:00 pm | Piaget Field

Zacara - 15, Orchard Hill - 12

The game was tied seven times and never out of reach of either team until the final minutes of the last chukker Sunday afternoon as Zacara (2-0) rallied to score a 15-12 win over Orchard Hill (0-2) in the 2012 Nespresso United States Open Polo Championship competition at the International Polo Club in Wellington.

Zacara opened up the game with three consecutive goals before Orchard Hill found its offense. Argentine 10-goaler Facundo Pieres scored the first goal of the game on 60-yard penalty shot and then followed up with a goal from the field a couple of minutes later. Mike Azzaro scored his first goal of the game to give Zacara a 3-0 lead. With two-and-a-half minutes left in the chukker, Pablo MacDonough got Orchard Hill on the score board with a well-placed shot through the Zacara goal posts. A minute later Mariano Gonzalez converted a penalty shot, and then tied it up, 3-3, with thirty-five seconds remaining on the clock.

Lucas Criado took the opening throw-in of the second period and carried I down the field for a go-ahead goal, 4-3. Magoo Laprida made it all even at 4-4 just a minute later with a goal from the field, and a goal from Zacara team captain Lyndon Lea had Orchard Hill trailing 5-4 with three-and-a-half minutes left in the chukker. Gonzalez took the ensuing throw-in and knotted it up again at 5-5, but it was a penalty goal from Pieres that ended the period with Zacara on top of a 6-5 score.

Pieres opened the third chukker with a goal from the field, 7-5 when Orchard Hill’s Criado scored three straight goals from the field. At the end of the first half of play, Orchard Hill held an 8-7 advantage over a talented Zacara lineup.

Pieres opened the fourth with a goal from field from the throw-in to tie it at 8-8, and a goal from Laprida had Zacara in front, 9-8. Orchard Hill responded with three goals in a row (one from Gonzalez and two from MacDonough), extending their lead to two goals, 11-9.

The Zacara offense opened up in the fifth, scoring an early goal from Pieres and a second unanswered goal from Laprida for an 11-11 tie.

Pieres was named MVP and Lucas Criado’s 10-year-old chestnut mare took Best Playing Pony honors.
Zacara took the field by storm in the final period of the game. Pieres scored the first two goals of the chukker in the first 50 seconds of the sixth, 13-11, and then made it three in a row as he scored again halfway through the period, 14-11. Laprida slammed the door on a struggling Orchard Hill offense with his fourth goal of the game, 15-11. Macdonough salvaged some pride as he kept Orchard Hill from getting blanked with a goal from the field but it was Zacara celebrating the 15-12 victory.

Pieres scored nine times for Zacara (four on penalty shots). Laprida added four goals and Azzaro and Lea scored single goals in the win.

Criado, Gonzalez and MacDonough scored four goals apiece for Orchard Hill.