The Piaget polo team staged a last-chukker rally Sunday, Feb. 3 at the International Polo Club Palm Beach to score an exciting come-from-behind win 10-8 over a determined Goose Creek foursome in Ylvisaker Cup competition. It highlighted a day that featured three high-goal polo matches.
Piaget fell behind early and trailed by two goals at the end of the first half, 5-3. Goose Creek maintained the two-goal lead until the fifth chukker when Piaget 10-goaler Miguel Astrada put three goals on the scoreboard to tie it up at 7-7. Goose Creek managed only a single goal from Chilean 6-goaler Tano Vial and seemed to have lost their earlier momentum.
“We moved [Juan] Bollini forward in the second half and had [Joaquin] Panelo playing a bit further back in the lineup, and it worked,” Astrada said. “It allowed me more room to operate in and with Bollini opening holes, we were able to break through the Goose Creek defenders.”
The plan worked, and Astrada went on to score three sixth-chukker goals while Piaget held Goose Creek to a single goal from Luis Escobar in the 10-8 win.
Astrada led the scoring with nine goals on the day, including three penalty conversions, and was named MVP. Panelo added a single goal. Vial recorded three goals for Goose Creek (one on a penalty shot). Cote Zegers and Escobar added two goals each, and team captain Maureen Brennan scored once in a losing effort.
Astrada’s 8-year-old Bay gelding, Chaleco, was honored as Best Playing Pony. The victory evens Piaget’s record at 1-1 while Goose Creek falls to 0-2.
In last Sunday morning’s match between Zacara (2-0) and Crab Orchard (1-1), Argentine 10-goaler Facundo Pieres continued to amaze spectators as he scored nine goals in Zacara’s 11-8 win over a previously unbeaten Crab Orchard team.
After a 1-1 first chukker, Crab Orchard surged out to a 4-2 second period lead before settling into a 6-6 halftime tie.
The game continued to be a struggle for both teams with Pieres converting a 40-yard penalty shot for Zacara’s only fourth chukker offense while limiting Crab Orchard to a single goal from 8-goaler Matias Magrini to keep it all even at 7-7.
Pieres let loose in the fifth chukker as he scored three times to give Zacara a 10-8 advantage. Magrini supplied the only goal of the period for Crab Orchard as they found themselves trailing 10-8 with one chukker left to play.
Pieres scored his ninth goal of the day in the final chukker while the Zacara defense shut down the Crab Orchard attack for the duration of the game and rode off with the 11-8 win.
Port Mayaca got off on the wrong foot in last Sunday’s noon contest as they surrendered an early penalty goal to a Coca-Cola team that was determined to remain undefeated in Ylvisaker Cup competition.
The early foul that awarded a free goal to the Coca-Cola team ended up resulting in another goal from a penalty conversion that found Port Mayaca in a 2-0 hole in the first three minutes of the match.
Port Mayaca’s fortune didn’t improve in the ensuing two chukkers as they were outscored by Coca-Cola 6-2 and found themselves trailing by five goals at the end of the third chukker, 8-3.
Four more Coca-Cola goals highlighted a fourth chukker that found Port Mayaca producing just one goal as the deficit grew to nine goals, 14-5.
Coca-Cola coasted through the final seven minutes of play, allowing Port Mayaca three unanswered goals in the 14-8 win. The victory gives Coca-Cola a perfect 2-0 record while Port Mayaca remains winless in two outings, 0-2.
The high-goal polo action takes place every Sunday through April 21 at the International Polo Club. Ticket prices for Sunday polo range from $10 general admission to $120 box seating. Tickets for Sunday brunch at the Pavilion and its reception start at $55, upward to $330 for the Veuve Clicquot brunch package for two.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.internationalpoloclub.com, or by calling (561) 204-5687. Find IPC on Facebook, follow on Twitter at @SundayPolo or visit www.ipcscoreboard.com for up-to-date scores, schedules, rosters and all other polo info.
Above: Piaget Vice President Lauren Duffy joins the team after its victory last Sunday afternoon. PHOTOGRAPHY BY LILA PHOTO
