Lechuza Caracas vs. Valiente I

04/18/2012, 2:00 pm |

Lechuza Caracas - 9, Valiente I - 8

In the day’s opener, Lechuza Caracas and Valiente I battled thru six ties before deadlocking at 8-8 in the final chukker of regulation play and forcing a sudden-death overtime period, ultimately resulting in the 9-8 Lechuza victory.

Nacho Astrada put Valiente I on the scoreboard first with a 40-yard penalty conversion in the first minute of play. Juan Martin Nero responded with a goal from the field at the four minute mark as the speed intensified. With less than two minutes to play, Nacho Astrada put Valiente I back on top, 2-1. Lechuza Caracas continued to press with Sapo Caset scoring the tying goal with 29 seconds left in the chukker.

Both teams stiffened their defenses in the second period, but Miguel Astrada had Valiente I ahead once again, 3-2 with his first goal of the day, early in the chukker. Nero’s second goal of the match had it all even at 3-3 when time expired.

Both teams dug in in the third chukker with an escalation in speed and physical contact. About halfway through the period, Nero scored to put Lechuza Caracas in the lead, 4-3. With time running out, Miguel Astrada knotted it up at 4-4 and the teams left the field at the end of the third chukker all even.

Lechuza Caracas managed to take control of the fourth chukker with ten-goalers Caset and Nero battling their way up and down the field while Facundo Obregon was a stalwart on defense for them. Team captain Victor Vargas continued to press the attack, drawing a defender down the field with him. Caset scored two unanswered goals to give Lechuza Caracas a two goal lead. His first goal came from the field and is second on a penalty shot. At the end of four, Lechuza Caracas was on top of a 6-4 score.

After being shut out for the first time all day, Valiente I returned the favor in the fifth while scoring two goals of their own. Nacho Astrada scored the first goal of the chukker in the first 30 seconds of play followed by a goal from the field from Polito Pieres just two minutes later. The two teams battled through the balance of the period with no further goals, leaving the field after five chukkers all tied up at 6-6.

Nero opened the sixth chukker with a goal from the field for a 7-6 Lechuza lead. Nacho Astrada scored on an extreme neck-shot just a minute later, 7-7. Caset gave Lechuza what seemed to be the winning goal on a 60-yard penalty conversion with over three minutes left to play, 8-7. A scramble in front of the Lechuza goal resulted in a foul, and with 45 seconds on the clock, Pieres scored the tying goal, 8-8, forcing the overtime.

The two teams struggled for control of the ball in the early goings before a streaking Obregon found himself on the receiving end of a well-placed pass and heading toward the Valiente I goalposts. With just 80 seconds off of the clock, Obregon scored his first goal of the game for the 9-8 win.

“I was just trying to concentrate on the ball, on the play,” Obregon said after the game. “I wasn’t focused on anything but the ball and the moment.”

The victory gave Vargas and his Lechuza team an opportunity to defend the title they won last year, returning to the finals for only the second time in the last ten years.

Caset and Nero were credited with four goals apiece. Obregon’s game winner was his only goal on the day.

Nacho Astrada led the Valiente I attack with four goals. Miguel Astrada and Pieres each scored a pair of goals in the loss.