Valiente edges past the Hawks 10-9 in quarter-final of US Open Polo Championship
Polito Pieres and Nacho Astrada scored nine goals and each had an assist, as Valiente powered a 10-9 victory over Hawks in the quarter-final game of the United States Open Polo Championship. The nail-biting contest was held at the International Polo Club
in Wellington.
It was the game between Freddie Mannix and Polito Pieres where the later displayed impressive skills and made the victory possible for his team.
Mannix opened the scoring of the game through a penalty conversion and established their first dominance in the contest. However, the strikers of Valiente were not sitting silently. Astrada and Pieres added one goal each to close out the chukka with Valiente
holding a narrow one-goal, 2-1 advantage.
In the second set of play, the Hawks team started playing aggressively and took the lead in the game. Mannix and Mariano Gonzalez scored a couple of goals apiece and put Valiente under severe pressure. The resilient defence of the Hawks displayed stiff resistance
on the field and allowed the Hawks only a single goal in the period. Pieres managed the solitary effort to show their presence on the field.
The pace of the game slowed down in the third, as only three goals were scored in the seven and a half minutes of play. Astrada connected on a penalty shot to reduce the Hawks lead to one goal. Later, Pieres scored another goal and had it even at five-all.
However, the tie up could not last for long, as Julian Mannix marked his first goal of the day and regained a single point lead for the Hawks at half-time, 6-5.
In the fourth round, the two sides swapped one goal and enhanced the games’ excitement. Bob Jornayvaz, the skipper of the Valiente team managed to take the ball away and marked a long drive to score the first goal of the day. Aguerre in the very next minute
notched another goal for the Hawks to retain their narrow one point, 7-6 advantage.
The second last set was opened by a penalty conversion from Aguerre to expand the lead up to two goals, as the strikers of Valiente were not ready to give up. Pieres and Astrada scored one goal apiece and tied the knots at eight-all with one chukka left
to fight.
At the start of the final action, Astrada and Pieres nailed one goal apiece of which one came on a penalty shot while other from the field and earned the lead for Valiente. The players from the Hawks were fighting bravely to make a come-back into the game,
but luck was not with them.
Aguerre scored the final goal of the game with seconds left in the regulation time period but to no avail. Valiente won the game by a single point, 10-9 and moved into the semi-final contest of the US Open Championship. They will face Audi in the semi-final
game at the same venue on 13 April, 2011.
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