Day five of competition in the C.V. Whitney Cup hosted by the National Polo Center- Wellington (NPC) began with Pilot (Curtis Pilot, Lucas Escobar, Matias Torres Zavaleta, Facundo Pieres) facing-off against Dazos (David Farache, Dylan Rossiter, Nicolas ‘Nico’ Pieres, Santiago ‘Santi’ Torres), followed by Tamera (Alejandro Poma, Pedro ‘Pedrinho’ Zacharias, Diego Cavanagh, Segundo Saravi) versus Park Place (Andrey Borodin, Juan Britos, Hilario Ulloa, Jason Wates).
Seeking their first victory of the 22-goal season, Dazos’ Rossiter went 3 for 3 in the field early, with 10-goaler Facundo Pieres answering with two goals of his own to keep Pilot within one. Creating separation in the third chukker, a four-goal run Pilot run including two from Zavaleta combined with a missed penalty attempt from Dazos gave Pilot a 6-4 lead at the break. Back on the attack to open the second half, Pieres continued to lead Pilot from the field finding the posts on three times in five attempts. Trailing by three entering the final chukker, Dazos pushed Pilot to the limit with Rossiter and Nico Pieres bringing their team back within one but were ultimately unable to complete the comeback as Pilot held on for the 10-9 win.
Each carrying a 1-0 record at the beginning of play, Tamera and Park Place began their contested battle for top seeding in Bracket IV. Tamera’s early balanced offensive effort saw contributions throughout their roster including fields goals from Zacharias and Poma, as Cavanagh tapped in three at the penalty line. Answering with three conversions of his own, Ulloa and teammate Britos combined for five first half goals, with Tamera taking a narrow 6-5 advantage into halftime. Outscoring Park Place in the fourth, Cavanagh earned his sixth goal of the match, but a determined combination of Ulloa, Wates and Britos tied the contest 10-all. Relying once more on a complete effort, Park Place’s ability to string together multiple successful drives capped off Ulloa’s six goal performance to seal the 13-11 comeback.
Upcoming Schedule:
Shack Attack (1-0) vs La Fe (1-0) at 12:30pm ET
Valiente (1-0) vs Aspen (0-1) at 3:00pm ET
Photo Credit: David Lominska