Alegria vs. Valiente II/Tonkawa

03/18/2012, 4:00 pm | Piaget Field

Valiente II/Tonkawa - 15, Alegria - 6

Adolfo Cambiaso showed everyone in the stadium at the International Polo Club Sunday afternoon why he is considered to be the top player in the game as he scored twelve times in leading Valiente II to a convincing 15-6 win over an impotent Alegria foursome in a quarterfinal of the USPA Piaget Gold Cup.

Cambiaso scored the first goal of the game less than a minute into the game, but Alegria responded with single goals from Tomas Garcia del Rio and Fred Mannix. The first chukker ended with Alegria on top of a 2-1 score.

In less than thirty seconds of the second chukker, Fred Mannix scored for a 3-1 lead, but that was when the sleeping Valiente offense got to work. An Alegria foul put Cambiaso on the penalty line just thirty seconds later when he converted a penalty shot for a score, 3-2. Alejo Taranco rode a rocket of a gray pony down the field and drove the ball through the goal posts from nearly 100 yards out to tie it up at 3-3. With just under two minutes left in the chukker, Pelon Stirling sent an 85-yard pass down the field to a racing Cambiaso who drove it through the posts to give Valiente a 4-3 lead. Cambiaso gobbled up the ensuing throw-in and carried it down the field to score the final goal of the game as Valiente I bounced back to lead by two goals, 5-3.

Cambiaso’s fifth goal of the game came in the opening minute of the third chukker to extend the Valiente II lead to three goals, 6-3. Two minutes later, Alegria’s Mariano Aguerre scored from the field, cutting the lead back to two goals, 6-4. Cambiaso took the following throw-in down the field again, scoring just seconds later for a 7-4 Valiente II advantage. Cambiaso’s seventh goal of the game came with two minutes left in the period and ended the first half with Valiente II ahead by four goals, 8-4.

The second half offered no more help for Alegria than the past two chukkers had as Valiente scored five unanswered goals in the fourth chukker. A pair of goals from Cambiaso was followed by a goal from the field from Taranco for an 11-4 lead. Two more goals from the “great one” (one from the field and one on a 60-yard penalty shot) ended the chukker with Valiente II coasting with a 13-4 lead.

Defenses tightened in the fifth period with neither team capitalizing on ball control or shots on goal. A goal from the field from Cambiaso in the last 50 seconds of play ended the chukker with Valiente II boasting a humiliating 14-4 lead with one chukker left to play.

Valiente II team captain Robert Jornayvaz opened the final chukker with a goal from the throw-in as Valiente II extended its lead to eleven goals, 15-4. Jornayvaz had another well-orchestrated run at the Alegria goal just a minute later, with the shot at goal going just wide. Single goals from Aguerre and Garcia del Rio closed out the game with Valiente II earning a berth in Thursday’s semifinals with the 15-6 victory.

Cambiaso was credited with an impressive twelve goals on the day. Taranco scored twice and Jornayvaz added a goal in the win.

Fred Mannix, Aguerre and Garcia del Rio scored two goals apiece in a losing effort.