Mon 23rd Mar 2015Audi take The Piaget USPA Gold Cup Gillian Johnston’s Coca-Cola win Subsidiary Final
The 26 goal Piaget USPA Gold Cup came to an end with a win for Audi against Orchard Hill in the Final on Sunday at International Polo Club, Palm Beach after two weeks of intense games between six teams. Orchard Hill looked set to be odds-on favourites for the win after a strong season with a performance rating to intimidate any opposition which included a record of seven consecutive 26 goal wins to date as well as The C.V. Whitney Cup title under their belts. Their team line-up featured the Pieres cousins, Facundo (10) and Polito (9) with Steve Van Andel (0) and Ezequiel Ferrario (7). Conversely, Audi, consisting of Gonzalito Pieres (9), Rodrigo Andrade (9), Fred Mannix (6) and Marc Ganzi (1), had yet to really make their mark on the 2015 season. The latter had a fairly smooth ride to The Gold Cup Final with four straight wins against Alegria Assist Card, Engel & Völkers and Las Monjitas (twice) to face Orchard Hill. The only blip in an otherwise textbook tournament game plan was a shoulder injury for Ganzi during the Semi Final against Las Monjitas, which cast a shadow of doubt as to his fitness to play in the Final. His son, Grant, was waiting in the wings, but Marc still took to the pitch in Sunday’s line-up. Audi decisively made their intentions known in the chukka one with the first goal coming from Gonzalito and by the first bell they had left Orchard Hill trailing 3-1. Despite Facundo turning up the heat from Orchard Hill to try and close the gap, the second chukka had much the same outcome as the first with Mannix joining in to score for Audi and ending the seven minutes of play, 6-4. By half-time the match was still in favour of Audi with a close score of 8-6. Steve Van Andel’s Orchard Hill managed to tie the game 8-8 in the fourth, before momentarily taking the lead for the first time in the Final when the scoreboard read 10-9 at the end of the chukka. However, an unrelenting Audi regained their lead by the end of the penultimate chukka with the score reading 14-12 in their favour. The real nail-biting play came in the final chukka. Polito Pieres cut the margin to one goal, before Gonzalito replied to make it 15-13. With the clock ticking, Polito found space between the posts to score, whilst his cousin coolly scored the equalising goal for Orchard Hill with a mere four seconds left of play and thus forcing the match into over time. A seventh chukka saw Audi win the line-out and drive towards the Orchard Hill goal. Audi were awarded a penalty just 29 seconds into the extra time, which Gonzalito – later named MVP – converted to make it 16-15 and win The Piaget USPA Gold Cup. Rosparita, owned and played by Gonzalito was awarded the honour of Best Playing Pony. Coca-Cola, with a line-up of Gillian Johnston (2), Sugar Erskine (6), Pelon Stirling (10) and Julio Arellano (8), defeated Lechuza Caracas featuring Victor Vargas (1), Nico Pieres (8), Agustin Garcia Grossi (7) and Juan Martin Nero (10), in the Subsidiary Final for The Engel & Völkers Tesoro Cup earlier in the day with a final score of 14-11. Photograph: Audi raise the USPA Gold Cup Trophy. By Alex Pacheco.
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