Orchard Hill and ERG score wins in
Saturday Ylvisaker Cup action

By Alex Webbe

At the end of the day, all fourteen teams competing in the 2013 Ylvisaker Cup at the
International Polo Club in Wellington had played, with Orchard Hill and ERG joining the
ranks of the unbeaten.

The opening Ylvisaker Cup match of the day got off to a tentative start with neither team
being able to score in the first seven minutes of play despite runs up and down the field.

There were nearly three minutes gone in the second period before Villa Del Lago’s
Guille Aguero finally got them on the scoreboard for a 1-0 advantage. Paco de Narvaez
tied it up at 1-1 with less than two minutes left in the chukker, but a final goal from Jared
Zenni kept Villa Del Lago in front, 2-1 after the second period.

Zenni scored the first goal of the third chukker in the first 19 seconds, and a goal from
the field from Aguero had Villa Del Lago on top, 4-1, less than three minutes into the
period. De Narvaez closed out the first half scoring with a penalty goal and Villa Del
Lago left the field with a two goal, 4-2 advantage at the end of the first half.

A renewed ERG team took the field in the second half, taking immediately control of the
game. Four consecutive goals (Paco de Narvaez, Scott Wood, Jeff Blake and Hector
Galindo) had ERG in the lead, 5-4, before Villa Del Lago could respond. A single goal
from the field from Magoo Laprida was answered with Jeff Blake’s second goal of the
chukker and after four periods of play ERG took the lead, 7-5.

Villa Del Lago was bent on revenge in the fifth, and quickly made up for their lack of
offense in the fourth. Goals from Laprida and Agustin Obregon had it all even at 7-7
before de Narvaez put ERG back in the lead, 8-7. Fours got ERG in trouble in the final
two-and-a-half minutes of the chukker with Laprida converting three straight penalty
shots, With one chukker left in regulation time, Villa Del Lago was up, 10-8.

De Narvaez led the ERG attack in the sixth chukker, scoring his first goal of the period
in the first 13 seconds of play. Just over a minute later de Narvaez tied it up at 10-
10, giving ERG the lead, 11-10, a minute later. Laprida converted a 40-yard penalty
shot to deadlock it at 11-11, but ERG wasn’t through. Taking advantage of a Villa Del
Lago foul, Blake converted a penalty shot to put ERG ahead, 12-11 with one minute
and thirty-eight seconds left in regulation time. Villa Del Lago continued to press, with
Aguero scoring the tying goal, 12-12 in the waning seconds to force sudden-death

overtime.

After a brief intermission both teams returned to the field with fresh mounts. Villa
Del Lago had the first run at goal, with the shot going wide. ERG knocked-in and de
Narvaez carried the ball down the field to score the winning goal.

De Narvaez was credited with eight goals (two penalty conversions for goals) on the
day, including the winning score in overtime. Blake added three goals (one on a penalty
shot) and teammates Galindo and Wood each scored once. Laprida led the Villa Del
Lago effort with six goals (four on penalty shots). Aguero scored three times; Zenni
added two goals and Oregon scored a goal from the field.

ORCHARD HILL 13, VALIENTE 12

Valiente 10-goaler Pelon Stirling returned to the field for Valiente for his first tournament
match after suffering a cracked rib a month ago and was rudely greeted by a
determined Orchard Hill quartet as they fell, 13-12.

Jeff Hall opened the scoring with a 40-yard penalty conversion to give Orchard Hill the
early 1-0 edge. Two goals from Stirling and a goal from the field from Criado had it all
even at 2-2 after the opening chukker.

A penalty conversion from Stirling gave Valiente a brief 3-2 advantage. Goals from the
field from Hall and Criado, however, erased the lead and had Orchard Hill in the lead, 4-
3 after the second chukker.

Orchard Hill got a rhythm going in the third period, and goals from Hector Galindo and
Mason Wroe gave them a 6-3 lead. Stirling carried the ball nearly 200 yards down
the field for a Valiente score, 6-4. Hal and Stirling exchanged penalty goals with Hall
scoring the final goal of the chukker with 18 seconds on the clock to put Orchard Hill
ahead, 8-5 at the end of the first half.

The Valiente defense flexed its muscles in the fourth chukker, shutting down the
Orchard Hill attack but could manage only a pair of penalty goals from Santi Torres.
The Orchard Hill lead had been slashed to a single goal, 8-7.

Action was fast and furious in the fifth period. Criado gave Orchard a two goal lead,
9-7, with the opening foal of the chukker, but Valiente responded in kind. A penalty
conversion from Stirling was followed up by an 80-yard scoring shot through the goals
posts for a 9-9 tie. Criado countered with a pair of goals (one on a penalty shot) from
Orchard Hill, 11-9. Valiente team captain bob Jornayvaz scored from the field on a well-
=placed pas from Stirling but Hall scored the final goal of the game on a penalty shot to
give Orchard Hill a two goal advantage, 12-10 with one chukker left to play.

Torres cut the Orchard Hill lead to a single goal, 12-11, on a penalty conversion, but the
score took over four minutes of the seven-and-a-half minute chukker. Criado tore away
from the Valiente defenders in the final minute of the period to score and give Orchard
Hill a two goal advantage once again. Torres worked his way through the Orchard Hill
defenders to score the final goal of the game as time expired, and Orchard Hill would
ride away with the 13-12 victory.

Criado’s seven goals (one on a penalty shot) led the Orchard Hill team. Hall added five
goals, three on penalty shots, and Wroe scored a goal for the win. Stirling scored three
of his seven goals on penalty conversions. Torres scored three goals from the penalty
line and one from the field and Jornayvaz added a goal in the loss.

Ylvisaker Cup play continues on Sunday, February 3rd with games at 10am, 1 and 3pm.
Crab Orchard (1-0) will battle Zacara (1-0) in the morning game with Coca-Cola (1-0)
and Port Mayaca (0-1) meeting one another at noon and Piaget (0-1) and Goose Creek
(0-1) facing off at 3pm.