Queens Cup coverage-Sunday, May 28  Guards Polo Club

Sommelier 7, Monterosso 5
RH Polo 11, King Power 8

 

RH Polo downs King Power; Sommelier edges Monterosso

By Alex Webbe

RH Polo (Ben Soleimani, Tommy Beresford, Adolfo Cambiaso and Rodrigo Andrade) recorded their second straight win of the 2017 Queens Cup with an 11-8 win over King Power Foxes (Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, Charles Cooney, Gonzalito Pieres and Facundo Pieres) Sunday afternoon at the Guards Polo Club.

First chukker goals from Rodrigo Andrade and Adolfo Cambiaso went unanswered as RH Polo controlled the flow of the game in the early goings. Andrade’s goal came on a drop pass from Cambiaso with Cambiaso’s first goal of the game giving RH Polo the early lead, 2-0.

Tommy Beresford made it 3-0 with his first goal of the afternoon. King Power responded with goals from Facundo Pieres and Gonzalito Pieres, cutting the RH Polo lead to a single goal, 3-2.

King Power came alive in the third with Gonzalito Pieres going on a tear. Scoring the tying goal in the opening seconds of the third period, Gonzalito Pieres added two more while a disciplined defense held RH Polo scoreless. At the end of the first half, the lead belonged to King Power, 5-3.

RH Polo regrouped at halftime and took charge of the game as the second half got underway. Cambiaso and Andrade tore into the King Power defenses and putting four straight goals on the scoreboard for King Power. A stunned King Power was unable to respond ad fell behind, 7-5.

Gonzalito Pieres scored his fifth goal of the day to open the scoring in the fifth and bring his team to within a goal of the lead, 7-6. RH Polo countered with a goal from the field from Andrade and a 60-yard penalty conversion from Cambiaso. The RH Polo lead grew to three goals, 9-6, with one period remaining in regulation play.

King Power could get no closer in the sixth. The two teams traded goals in the final period for an 11-8 RH Polo victory.

The win boosts the RH Polo record to 2-2 while King Power suffered its first setback and leveled their record at 1-1.

Sommelier 7, Monterosso 5

In a noon contest Sommelier (George Hanbury, Juan Gris Zavaleta, Fred Mannix and Alec White) came out on the winning end of a 7-5 game against Monterosso (Alessandro Bazzoni, Ignacio Toccalino, Santiago Toccalino and Matt Perry), debuting with their first win of the Queens Cup competition while handing Monterosso their second defeat in as many games.

Action got underway quickly, with Fred Mannix scoring the first goal of the game from the opening throw-in, but that would be the extent of any effective offense in the chukker. Sommelier had the opportunity to add a couple additional goals, but missed on shots in front of the goal line and settled with a 1-0 advantage after the first.

Santiago Toccalino and Mannix exchanged goals in the second, with neither team being able to mount a sustained offensive attack. After two periods of play, Sommelier continued to lead by a single goal, 2-1.

Matt Perry’s first goal of the day tied the score at 2-2, when Sommelier went on the offensive. Consecutive goals from Juan Gris Zavaleta, Mannix and Alec White closed out the first half with Sommelier on top of a 5-2 halftime score.

Perry cut the lead back to two goals, 5-3, with his second goal of the game, but Sommelier fired right back. Alec White found himself on the scoring end of a pass from Zavaleta for the final goal of the chukker and a 6-3 Sommelier lead.

A determined Monterosso team took control of the game in the fifth. Goals from Santiago Toccalino and Perry went unanswered, as Monterosso came within a goal of the lead. Zavaleta missed a 30-yard penalty shot, but Sommelier held on to a fragile one-goal advantage, 6-5, with one chukker remaining in regulation play.

Muted offenses characterized the sixth. Sommelier was awarded a 40-yard penalty shot which was missed by Mannix, keeping Monterosso’s hopes alive. A goal from Zavaleta with two minutes left in the game was the deciding goal of the match with Sommelier escaping with a 7-5 win.

Mannix and Zavaleta scored three goals apiece for Sommelier, with teammate White adding a goal for the win. Perry scored three times for Monterosso. Santi Toccalino added two goals in the loss.

Queens Cup play continues on Tuesday, May 30 th , with a 3pm match between Sifani (Hilali Noordeen, John-Paul Clarkin, Julian de Lusarreta and Guillermo Terrera) and Murus Sanctus (Corinne Ricard, Hilario Ulloa, Facundo Sola and Dirk Van Reenen).

Murus Sanctus (0-1) will be looking for their first Queens Cup win while Sifani will be looking to improve on their 1-1 record.