Twelve Oaks, Dubai and El Remanso remain undefeated with 2-0 records
By Alex Webbe
Ignacio Toccalino scored the first goal of the game Sunday afternoon for HB Polo
(Ludovic Pailloncy, Ignacio Toccalino, Pite Merlos and Sebastian Pailloncy) on the
River Field at Cowdray Park as the 2013 Veuve Clicquot British Open for the Gold Cup
continued. Marcos Di Paola evened the count for Twelve Oaks (Chris Hyde, Magoo
Laprida, Marcos Di Paola and Inaki Laprida) at 1-1 to close out the scoring in the
opening chukker.
The two teams battled evenly through much of the second chukker, racing up and down
the field with shots at goal going wide or being well-defended. Single goals from each
kept it even at 2-2, with Twelve Oaks breaking ahead at the end of the period for a 3-2
edge.
Close checking and hard riding kept the second chukker even as both steams struggled
to break through the opponents rigid defenses. Battling through a scoreless third
chukker, Twelve Oaks maintained a 3-2 advantage at the end of the first half of play.
Goals continued to be hard to come by as both defenses were resilient throughout. A
pair of Twelve Oaks goals extended their lead over HB Polo to two goals, 5-3, to end
the fourth chukker, with HB Polo being held to a single goal in the period.
Two more goals from Twelve Oaks stretched their lead to three goals, 7-4. Once again,
a struggling HB Polo offense was held to a single goal with one chukker remaining in
regulation play.
HB Polo made a last chukker run at Twelve Oaks, cutting the lead to two goals, 7-5.
Twelve Oaks responded with a goal of their own, 8-5. HB Polo scored the final goal of
the match, but wound up on the losing end of an 8-6 score. With the win Twelve Oaks
improves their record to 2-0 while HB Polo falls to 0-2.
DUBAI 14, BLACK BEARS 10
The second British Open match of the day featured Dubai’s (Rashid Albwardy, Nico
Pieres, Adolfo Cambiaso and Alex White) talented young player, Nico Pieres, who
scored all four first chukker goals for his team (two on penalty conversions) for a 4-1
lead. The Black Bears (Guy Schwarzenbach, Nachi du Plessis, John Paul Clarkin and
Patrick O’Dwyer) were hoping to improve on their 0-1 record, but fell behind by three
goals in the opening chukker.
Three more second chukker goals from Dubai had them extending their lead to five
goals. Black Bears managed a single goal, but were beginning to fade, trailing 7-2.
Black Bears scored the first goal of the third chukker, but Dubai responded with a goal
of their own, 8-3. Two more Black Bears goals cut the Dubai lead to three goals, 8-5, to
end the first half.
Dubai scored the first goal of the second half, 9-5, and ran its lead up to six goals, 11-5.
Black Bears tallied two goals to close out the chukker with Dubai in the lead, 11-7.
Black Bears continue to press the attack. Dubai adds a goal in the fifth chukker. Black
Bears pick up two. Dubai leads by three goals, 12-9, with one chukker left to play.
Dubai scores the first two goals of the final chukker for a 14-9 advantage over Black
Bears as the game seemed to get away from Guy Schwarzenbach and company. A
final goal from Black Bears was all they could muster, falling to Dubai, 14-10.
Nico Pieres had a brilliant showing, accounting for 11 of Dubai’s 14 goals on the day.
Dubai improved its record to 2-0 in British Open play while Black Bears fall to 0-2.
EL REMANSO 13, EMLOR 11
El Remanso (George Hanbury, Guillermo Terrera, Pelon Stirling and Alastair Paterson)
was looking to register their second straight British Open win over an Emlor team
(Spencer McCarthy, Joaquin Pittaluga, Luke Tomlinson and Nacho Gonzalez) that was
looking for its first victory of the campaign, but had their hands full.
After a contentious opening chukker, Emlor had emerged from second period play on
top of a 4-3 score.
Emlor continues to dominate play. El Remanso manages one goal in the third while
Emlor scored three times for a 7-4 halftime lead.
El Remanso continues to have trouble with the Emlor defense. Fourth chukker play
watches Emlor continue to control the game. Two more Emlor goals are scored with
El Remanso answering with a single goal, falling behind by four goals, 10-6, with two
chukkers left to play.
El Remanso stages a late game rally in the fifth chukker, scoring two unanswered goals
to cut the Emlor lead to two goals, 10-8. Five more El Remanso goals are met with a
single score from Emlor. Sixth chukker play begins with Emlor trailing, 13-11.
Both defenses buckled down in the final chukker, with no goals being scored. After
trailing throughout the game, seven late goals lifted El Remanso over Emlor, 13-11.
British Open play continues on Monday, July 1 with a three game schedule. At noon,
Cortium (0-1) faces Sumaya (1-0); Lucchese (0-1) meets UAE (1-0) at 3PM with Thai
Polo (0-1) battling Talandracas (0-1) at 5PM.