Alegria vs. Las Monjitas

03/03/2012, 3:30 pm |

Alegria - 9, Las Monjitas - 7

Although they traded leads through much of the game, Alegria rallied late in the game to score a 9-7 win over Las Monjitas in the finals of the 26-goal Les Armour Cup at the International Polo club in Wellington Saturday afternoon.
The game opened quickly, with Javier Astrada scoring the opening goal of the game in the first 20 seconds of play, followed by a goal from his brother, Eduardo Astrada for a 2-0 Las Monjitas lead. Julian Mannix got Alegria on the scoreboard with a push shot that traveled between the Las Monjitas goalposts with 2:26 in the first chukker. Fred Mannix tied it up at 2-2 on a penalty shot to end the period.
Alegria took control of the second chukker, picking up a goal from the field from Julian Mannix followed by a penalty conversion from his brother Fred Mannix. A smothering defense kept Las Monjitas from scoring as Alegria left the field after the first two chukkers with a 4-2 advantage.
The pace of play continued to escalate in the third period, but defenses were resolute. Inaki Laprida scored the lone goal of the chukker and Alegria rode off of the field at the end of the period with a narrow 4-3 lead.

A regrouped Las Monjitas team returned to the field in the second half determined to take control of the ball. Three unanswered goals had them ahead 6-4 with Alegria searching for answers. For the second consecutive chukker Alegria was held scoreless.

Alegria turned the tables on Las Monjitas in the fifth, scoring two goals and providing their own shutout defense. Mariano Aguerre scored the first goal of the chukker followed by a goal from Julian Mannix with just 54 seconds left in the chukker. Las Monjitas saw their two-goal lead vanish with one chukker left to play.

Javier Astrada’s second goal of the game was scored in the opening seconds of the sixth chukker and gave Las Monjitas a 7-6 lead, but Alegria was just getting started. A penalty goal from Tomas Garcia del Rio was followed by a penalty goal from Fred Mannix and a closing goal from the field from Julian Mannix for the 9-7 win.

Julian Mannix led the Alegria team with four goals. Fred Mannix scored three times and teammates Aguerre and del Rio added single goals in the win.

Inaki Laprida and Javier Astrada scored three goals apiece for Las Monjitas. Eduardo Astrada added a goal.

Aguerre’s Versweet was named Best Playing Pony while Eduardo Astrada received MVP honors.