Coca-Cola wins in overtime to capture
Pennell Cup at the International Polo Club

By Alex Webbe

Coca-Cola (Gillian Johnston, Sugar Erskine, Julio Arellano and Tommy Collingwood)
scored a 13-12 win over Villa Del Lago (Jim Zenni, Augustin Obregon, Polito Pieres and
Magoo Laprida) in the International Polo Club’s opening Sunday match to defend their
2012 title, but it wasn’t easy.

Tommy Collingwood scored the first goal of the game in the opening 45 seconds of play
to give Coca-Cola the early 1-0 lead, but Polito Pieres responded with a goal for Villa
Del Lago less than a minute later, 1-1. Julio Arellano made it 2-1 on his first goal of the
day with Pieres responding in king for a 2-2 tie. Sugar Erskine closed out the chukker
with a goal to put Coca-Cola on top, 3-2.

A pair of penalty conversions by Arellano had Coca-Cola ahead by three goals midway
through the second period when Pieres went back to work. Scoring a pair of goals from
the field in the next two minutes, Pieres kept Villa Del Lago in the game, trailing by a
single goal, 5-4.

Things got no easier for either team in the third. Arellano and Gillian Johnston scored
goals for Coca-Cola and Pieres added a pair of scores for Villa Del Lago. At the end of
the first half Coca-Cola continued to lead, 7-6.

Pieres tied it up at 7-7 in the fourth chukker on his seventh goal of the match. Arellano
answered with a penalty conversion for a score and gave the lead back to Coca-Cola,
8-7. Magoo Laprida’s first goal of the day knotted it up again at 8-8, but Coca-Cola
wasn’t through. A penalty goal from Arellano and a goal from the field from Johnston
ended the chukker with Coca-Cola in front, 10-8.

Three minutes into the fifth chukker Pieres cut the lead to a single goal, 10-9 but Coca-
Cola continued to press the attack. With 50 seconds on the clock, Villa Del Lago
committed a foul that send Arellano to the penalty lien where he scored on his fifth
penalty shot of the day. Coca-Cola rode off the field with an 11-9, two goal lead.

Laprida converted a penalty shot in the opening 30 seconds of the sixth chukker, but
Johnston responded with a goal from the field just over a minute later, 12-10. Laprida
scored on another penalty shot, 12-11, and the Villa Del Lago offense continued to
pressure Coca-Cola. Halfway through the chukker, Obregon tied it up at 12-12 as the
game seemed to be slipping away the Coca-Cola team. A final breakaway toward the

Villa Del Lago goal had Johnston just missing the winning goal. The horn sounded
signaling the end of regulation play and a brief recess before both teams would return to
the field for sudden-death overtime.

The ball was thrown in and both teams struggled for control of the ball, Erskine
managed to break free and send the ball out of the pack to a streaking Arellano and
seconds later he drove the ball through the goal posts for the win.

“I don’t know what happened,” said a bewildered Pieres. “First we had possession of
the ball and then we didn’t.”

Arellano denied that they had changed their tactics for the final throw-in, “I just told
everyone to get a man and if you got to the ball, hit it,” he said.

“The ball bounced around in the lineup,” said Villa Del Lago’s Obregon. “It was out and
then it was over,” he said.

Coca-Cola’s young Back, Tommy Collingwood admitted that he had some trouble when
they shifted to zone defense, and Erskine agreed.

“They made some strange moves off of the play,” admitted Erskine, “they changed
things around a lot and used a lot of screens,” he added. “We just kept after them and
managed to come out on top.”

Pieres led the Villa Del Lago offense with eight goals and was named MVP for his
efforts. Laprida scored three times and Obregon added a goal in the loss. Arellano
recorded eight goals for Coca-Cola (five on penalty conversions). Johnston added
three goals and Erskine and Collingwood scored single goals for the victory.

Johnston’s 10-year-old gray Thoroughbred mare, Perk, was honored as Best Playing
Pony.

LECHUZA CARACAS OVER LA HERRADURA, 13-10

Tomas Goti was the big story earlier in the day as he scored ten times in leading
Lechuza Caracas (Victor Vargas, Adam Snow, Agustin Nero and Tomas Goti) to a 13-
10 win over Memo Gracida and his La Herradura teammates (Jose Donoso, Carlos
Gracida, Memo Gracida and Alvaro Fernandez).

Nero scored twice in the opening chukker (on by penalty) but was countered by single
goals from Jose Donoso and Memo Gracida for a 3-3 tie.

Goals from Adam Snow and Goti accounted for the only scoring in the second frame
as the La Herradura offense was muted by hard riding and great defensive plays by
Lechuza Caracas. After two chukkers of play Lechuza Caracas held a 4-2 advantage.

Snow added a single goal in the third chukker and Goti chipped in two more from the
field for a 7-2 edge. Donoso and Carlos Gracida managed to get on the scoreboard for
La Herradura, but Lechuza Caracas rode off the field at the end at the end of the first
half with a 7-4 lead.

The two teams exchanged goals in the fourth. Carlos Gracida converted a penalty shot
for a goal and added another from the field. The red-hot Goti scored two more and
Nero notched his first of the afternoon. After four chukkers of play Lechuza Caracas
had extended its lead to four goals, 10-6.

Carlos Gracida scored one from the field in the fifth chukker and once on a penalty
shot but Goti added two more goals to the Lechuza Caracas total and La Herradura
continued to trail by four goals, 12-8.

A penalty on Lechuza Caracas in the opening minute of the final chukker allowed Carlos
Gracida to convert a penalty shot for a goal. Once again, however, Goti responded with
a goal for Lechuza Caracas. With less than two minutes left in Carlos Gracida made a
run at the Lechuza Caracas goal from over a hundred yards out, leaving the ball in the
goal mouth where Memo Gracida tapped it through for the final goal of the game in the
13-10 Lechuza Caracas win.

Goti led all scoring with ten goals, all from the field. Snow accounted for two goals and
Nero scored once. Carlos Gracida set the pace for La Herradura, scoring on three
penalty shots and adding three goals from the field for a total of six. Memo Gracida and
Donoso added two goals apiece in a losing effort.

Twenty-goal action will resume on Thursday, January 10 with Orchard Hill (Steve Van
Andel, Jeff Hall, Lucas Criado and Mason Wroe) meeting La Herradura in the opening
game of the 2012 Joe Barry Memorial Cup.