Mon 9th Mar 2015 Busy weekend in The USPA Piaget Gold Cup IPC hosts second qualifying round of high goal tournament The battle for The USPA Piaget Gold Cup continued yesterday, Sunday 7 March at International Polo Club, Palm Beach. The Florida Club hosted four games, which saw victories for the Alegria, Audi, Coca Cola and Orchard Hill teams.  Alegria (Julian Mannix (4), Hilario Ulloa (9), Mariano Aguerre (9) and Sterling Fiannico (4)) faced Las Monjitas (Camilo Bautista (0), Facundo Sola (8), Sebastian Merlos (9) and Eduardo Novillo Astrada (9)) in a morning game, played on the number four ground at the Club. Despite a low-scoring first half, Alegria maintained the lead until chukka four, when Las Monjitas took over for a strong two chukkas. Alegria shone in the sixth though, scoring three goals to Las Monjitas’ one and just winning the game 9-8. The second game of the morning was played between Audi (Marc Ganzi (1), Gonzalito Pieres (9), Rodrigo Andrade (9) and Freddie Mannix (6)) and Engel & Volkers (Matias Magrini (8), Santi Torres (7), Kris Kampsen (6) and Jared Zenni (3)) on the Isla Carroll East field. Scores were tied 1-all in the first, but then a dazzling volley of goals converted by the Audi side in the second, took the scores to 6-1. Engel & Volkers regained their composure in the third and fourth, gradually adding to their goal tally whilst keeping a tight defence and preventing Audi from scoring any further goals. However, in the fifth, Audi surged ahead with goals from top scorers, Gonzalito Pieres and Fred Mannix so the scoreboard read 9-5. They retained their momentum in the sixth to finish the game 11-7.  Gillian Johnston’s Coca Cola team (Pelon Stirling (10), Julio Arellano (8) and Sugar Erskine (6)) – the winners of The Ylvisaker Cup – faced Lechuza Caracas (Victor Vargas (1), Nico Pieres (8), Juan Martin Nero (10) and Agustin Garcia Grossi (7)) at midday. They led throughout the game, with Lechuza snapping at their heels in the fourth to get within a goal of their opposition, but to no avail. The scores read 10-8 to Coca Cola at the end of the fifth and did not change when the final bell rang out. Julio Arellano was the top scorer of the match, securing half of his team’s eventual 10 goals.  The feature match of the afternoon was between Orchard Hill (Steve Van Andel (0), Facundo Pieres (10), Polito Pieres (9) and Ezequiel Ferrario (7)) and Valiente (Bob Jornayvaz (2), Alejo Taranco (6), Guillermo Terrera (8) and Adolfo Cambiaso (10)), and seems to be taking on an almost Derby-like status on the 2015 US polo scene. Cousins, Facundo and Polito Pieres kept just ahead of Valiente in the opening two chukkas, but by half-time, the teams were neck and neck with 6 goals apiece. However, an extraordinary display of polo in the fourth saw Orchard Hill’s lead, leap six goals ahead whilst preventing any retaliation from their opposition. The fifth was controlled by Valiente who tightened their defence whilst going on a goal attack of their own, finishing the chukka just two goals behind. Both teams notched up goals in the last, but the match was to belong to Orchard Hill who rode off the pitch the deserved winners, 14-12.  The Gold Cup will resume on Wednesday 11 March with Alegria versus Engle & Volkers.    Photograph: Eduardo Novillo Astrada of Las Monjitas on the ball during The USPA Piaget Gold Cup. By Alex Pacheco.

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