Mon 30th Mar 2015 Pieres Power High goal family dominate in first weekend of US Open Wins for Coca-Cola, Audi, Orchard Hill and Lechuza Caracas marked a flat-out weekend of 26 goal polo at International Polo Club, Palm Beach with scores close and matches forced into overtime.  The U.S Open started on Saturday 28 March when 2 goaler, Gillian Johnston’s Coca-Cola (Sugar Erskine (6), Pelon Stirling (10) and Julio Arellano (8)) defeated 0 goaler, Camilo Bautista’s Las Monjitas (Sebastian Merlos (9), Eduardo Novillo Astrada (9) and Facundo Sola (8)), 9-8. Despite two last-minute goals in the sixth from Las Monjitas’ Sola, top scorer of the match, Arellano secured his seventh goal of the game to win the opener of the tournament for Coca-Cola. The first Sunday of The Open, hosted three incredibly close games, all featuring members of the Pieres family – who all went on to celebrate a successful day. Audi (Marc Ganzi (1), Gonzalito Pieres (9), Rodrigo Andrade (9) and Freddie Mannix (6)), fresh from their success as victors in The Piaget USPA Gold Cup, defeated FlexJet 11-10 (Grant Ganzi (0), Nic Roldan (8), Miguel Novillo Astrada (9) and Magoo Laprida (8)) in the morning match. In a father-son contest, Marc led his team to a narrow victory over Grant’s side despite Magoo Laprida drawing the scores level with moments left on the clock. Audi swiftly retaliated though to secure the win. “The first game after winning [The Gold Cup] is tough, because unfortunately, you’re more relaxed and the other teams are more afraid of you – and they go for it with everything,” commented Gonzalito Pieres after the match.  The as-ever anticipated show-down between Facundo Pieres (10) of Orchard Hill and Adolfo Cambiaso (10) of Valiente came to an abrupt end only 35 seconds into the first chukka of the second game of the day. It’s commonly known that Cambiaso is suffering from injury and that his US season has been blighted by recurring problems, and on this occasion he retired from the tournament opener with a hip complaint. After much delay, he was ably replaced by Sapo Caset, a talented, 10 goal understudy who was waiting in the wings. Despite this change in their team line-up, Valiente (Bob Jornayvaz (2), Alejo Taranco (6) and Guillermo Terrera (8)) held strong throughout the first half, forcing Orchard Hill (Steve Van Andel (0), Polito Pieres (9) and Ezequiel Ferrario (7)) into playing a different game, and taking advantage of the match. However, Steve Van Andel’s team erased their opposition’s lead in the fourth chukka, finishing with the scores tied at 9-all. They kept the momentum in the fifth to take the lead for the first time, but Valiente replied with force in the sixth. Caset converted two penalties to equalise the scores to 14-14, sending the game into overtime. As players returned to the pitch and lined up, Facundo spirited the ball away and capitalised on his extraordinary horsepower to fly towards goals and clinch the winning goal, 15-14. Further success for the Pieres family.  The featured match of the day was between Victor Vargas’ Lechuza Caracas (Nico Pieres (8), Agustin Garcia Grossi (7) and Juan Martin Nero (10)) and Julian Mannix’s Alegria (Hilario Ulloa (9), Mariano Aguerre (9) and Sterling Giannico (4)). Last minute changes to the Lechuza players’ positions and intense preparation seemed to outwit defending U.S Open Champions, Alegria with Nico Pieres scoring the first goal of the match. However, Alegria regained control and once again the game was tied as the final bell rang out, pushing the match into an extra chukka. Unusually, a quick line-out results in an equally quick goal, but on this occasion both teams were left scrabbling for the elusive shot to win the match. That eventually came two and a half minutes into the seventh when Lechuza’s Grossi pounced on the ball to claim a 13-12 victory and ensure his Most Valuable Player status. There was consolation for the Alegria line-up in the form of Ulloa’s Clave being awarded Best Playing Pony.  Play continues for The U.S. Open on Wednesday 1 April with Valiente versus Las Monjitas.   Photograph: Valiente versus Orchard Hill in the league stages of The U.S Open at International Polo Club, Palm Beach. By Alex Pacheco.

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