Faraway defeats Piaget by 9-8 to clinch 2011 Hall of Fame Cup at IPC
Lucas Monteverde lit the lamp five times and had an assist, as Faraway edged past Piaget by 9-8 in the finals of the Hall of Fame Cup, which was played at the International Polo Club in Wellington, Florida.
Faraway scored ten goals against nine of its rival and clinched the title of the tournament.
Faraway and Piaget, the two teams opened the game quite maturely and scored three goals in the first seven and a half minute of play. Monteverde of Faraway opened the scoring of the game, while Mike Azzaro joined him in the initial action and doubled the
tally. The defensemen of Faraway were showing stiff game onto the field, but Lolo Castagnola managed the first goal of the day to bring Piaget into the score-net. The opening chukka ended with Faraway holding a narrow one-goal lead, 2-1.
With impressive game show, the team of Faraway expanded its lead in the second round action. Monteverde and Azzaro scored one goal each to put Faraway ahead on the score-board. A solitary goal from Piaget was scored in the hands of Nachi Heguy through a
penalty conversion. In the later time, Juan Bollini of Piaget was replaced by Hector Galindo after receiving a severe knee injury. Piaget was trailing by two goals at the end of the second period.
The third chukka was very hard hitting stanza, but completely belonged to Faraway. Monteverde scored a couple of goals while his team-mate, Negro Astrada (replacement of Nic Roldan), added a goal from the field. The resilient defence did not allow the Piaget
attackers to score a goal in the period. Faraway held a five-point lead at the half-time.
The attackers of Piaget cranked up their offence in the fourth set of play and scored three goals, while limiting Faraway only for a solitary strike. Melissa Ganzi opened the chukka, while Castagnola seconded him with a pair of goals. But Astrada connected
on a penalty shot to show their presence onto the field. Despite leading the period, Piaget was trailing by three points, 8-5.
The pace of the game further increased in the last two chukkas. The second last chukka was also dominated by Piaget, as it scored two goals, while minimising Faraway only for a single goal. Castagnola scored another two goals of which one came on a penalty-shot,
while other from the field. However, a Faraway's goal went up on the score-board from Monteverde to retain their two goal-lead, 9-7.
Castagnola scored off a penalty-shot in the final set of play and reduced the lead down to a single point. Galindo in the last moments scored a goal, but to no avail as Faraway rode away the field by a single point victory and clinched the title of the tournament.
The MVP award was given to Alejandro Astrada, while Colette, the pony of Nic Roldan, was named as Best Playing Pony of the tournament.
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