Orchard Hill defeats Faraway by 11-10 in USPA Piaget Gold Cup
Hector Galindo punched the game-winning goal in the sudden-death overtime and had an assist to lead Orchard Hill to an 11-10 win over Faraway in the United States Polo Association (USPA) Piaget Gold Cup in Wellington, Florida.
It was a nail-biting contest, where the two teams delivered outstanding performance and enchanted the spectators a lot. Faraway though succeeded to make tie-ups on many occasions, but luck was not with them and they lost the game in the extra-time.
Faraway received one goal by handicap and that was the only offence from them in the first seven and half minute action. However, Orchard Hill started the game quite offensively and received three goals in the period. Pablo Macdonough scored a couple of
goals while his team-mate, Lucas Criado, added one and led the chukka with a two-point edge, 3-2.
Lucas Monteverde and Nic Roldan scored once each and finally brought Faraway into the field score-net. But the strikers of Orchard Hill were not sitting inactively, as Galindo and Criado marked a couple of goals to hold back their lead. The chukka ended
with Orchard Hill holding a two-point, 5-2 advantage.
In the third set of play, the defence of Faraway showed impressive game and held Orchard Hill scoreless in the period. On the other hand, Mike Azzaro of Faraway scored a pair of goals of which one came on a penalty-shot, while the second goal came from the
field and had it all even. The two teams held a five-all dead-lock with them to the sidelines after the first half of play.
The second half opened in quite a slow way and two sides could only score one goal each in the frame. Roldan connected on a spot-shot and took a narrow lead for Faraway. But the lead could not last for long as Steve Van Andel through a field effort and evened
the score at six-all.
The two teams displayed a fast and furious show-off on the field in the second last frame as both wanted to mark a go-ahead goal. Roldan once again scored a point from the field for Faraway and established their lead. But Macdonough in a counter-offence
converted a penalty-shot, added a goal from the field and earned their first lead in the game, 8-7.
Galindo scored a goal from the field to open the final set of play and further expanded the lead to two points. But in the later time, Roldan and Monteverde nailed two and one goal respectively, to regain a one-goal lead, 10-9. With seconds left on the clock,
Criado scored another goal and had it all even at ten-all.
Both teams went into the sudden-death overtime to make the contest decisive. Galindo at the start of the overtime scored the victorious goal and sealed the first victory of the tournament for Orchard Hill.
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