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Enigma explodes for powerful win over Coca-Cola; PB Illustrated flexes muscles against La Indiana

By Alex Webbe

If Enigma (Jerome Wirth, Jeff Hall, Matias MacDonough and Carlucho Arellano) was the underdog going into Wednesday morning’s game against Coca-Cola (Gillian Johnston, Sugar Erskine, Julio Arellano and Steve Krueger) in the Joe Barry Memorial Cup action at the International Polo Club Wednesday morning, someone forgot to tell Enigma. Eleven first half goals had Jerome Wirth’s Enigma team on top by eight goals, 11-3 after the first half of play as they cruised to the 17-12 victory.

Coca-Cola’s Julio Arellano scored the first goal of the game on a 40-yard penalty shot in the first minute of play, 1-0, but Enigma stormed right back into the game. Argentine 8-goaler Matias MacDonough scored the tying goal from the field and then gave his team the lead on a 60-yard penalty conversion, 2-1. Carlucho Arellano (younger brother of Coca-Cola 8-goaler Julio Arellano) scored his first goal of the game for a 3-1 Enigma advantage. Sugar Erskine responded for Coca-Cola with a brilliant run down the field for the final goal of the chukker. Enigma left the field with the early 3-2 lead.

The second period belonged to Enigma as they thwarted attack after attack from Coca-Cola while adding four goals of their own. Carlucho Arellano scored in the first 30-seconds of the chukker, 4-2. Carlucho Arellano followed it up at the 4:40 mark with a brilliant shot on goal that fell short. MacDonough galloped over the top of the ball, leaving it to Jeff Hall who hammered it through for a 5-2 lead. MacDonough and Carlucho Arellano scored the final two goals of the chukker while holding Coca-Cola scoreless, 7-2.

The teamwork between Carlucho Arellano and MacDonough continued to pay off with MacDonough scoring on a pass from Carlucho Arellano 90 seconds into the third period, 8-2. Hall converted a 40-yard penalty shot to make it 9-2 with Julio Arellano scoring a goal from the field with three minutes left in the period, 9-3. There was no letup from Enigma with MacDonough taking advantage of a Coca-Cola foul to convert a 30-yard penalty shot for a goal, 10-3, and then adding a final goal with just 17 seconds on the clock for a commanding 11-3 halftime lead.

Carlucho Arellano opened the second half with his fourth goal of the day, 12-3 when the Coca-Cola rally began to pick up momentum. Fouls were costly to the Enigma team with Coca-Cola scoring on four penalty shots in a row (three from Julio Arellano and one from Steve Krueger), cutting the lead down to five goals, 12-7. Carlucho Arellano added his fifth goal of the match with 1:12 on the clock and MacDonough drove the ball through the Coca-Cola goalposts in the final 23 seconds for a seven goal, 14-7 lead.

Coca-Cola isn’t the kind of team to give up, proving t with an aggressive attack and the opening three goals of the fifth chukker. An Enigma foul in the goalmouth gave Coca-Cola a penalty shot just feet away from the goal, resulting in a Julio Arellano penalty goal, 14-8. Gillian Johnston took advantage of a pass from Sugar Erskine to score her first goal of the game, 14-9, and another penalty goal from Julio Arellano from 60-yards out had them within four goals of the lead, 14-10. Enigma sucked it up and went after the Coca-Cola defense with team captain Jerome Wirth scoring on a well-executed shot on goal from over 35-yards out, 15-10. Wirth followed it up with his second goal of the game a minute later to end the chukker on top by six goals, 16-10.Midway through the final chukker MacDonough gave Enigma a seven goal lead, 17-10, with his eighth goal of the game, It was over two minutes later that Krueger scored on a 70-yard neck-shot, 17-11. Julio Arellano scored the final goal of the game with just 32 seconds left in regulation time in a 17-12 Enigma win.

MacDonough’s eight goals (two on penalty conversions) led the Enigma attack. Carlucho Arellano was credited with five goals with teammates Wirth and Hall adding two goals apiece. Julio Arellano scored six of his team-high eight goals on penalty conversions. Krueger added two goals and Johnston and Erskine scored single goals in the loss.

Palm Beach Illustrated 12, La Indiana 6

In the second Joe Barry Memorial Cup match of the day a young and talented Palm Beach Illustrated team (Nacho Badiola, Jared Zenni, Facundo Obregon and Jesse Bray) shocked a veteran La Indiana lineup (Michael Bickford, Joao Paulo Ganon, Ruki Baillieu and Tommy Biddle) 12-6.

Palm Beach Illustrated charged out of the gates in the opening chukker with Facundo Obregon scoring in the first 30 seconds of the game to go ahead, 1-0. Jared Zenni made it 2-0 at the 5:21 mark while La Indiana was struggling to find their offense. Tommy Biddle finally got La Indiana on the scoreboard with a 40-yard penalty conversion in the final 39 seconds of the chukker to trail Palm Beach Illustrated, 2-1.

Nacho Badiola extended the Palm Beach Illustrated lead to 3-1 with a goal from the field just 24 seconds into the second chukker, 3-1. Zenni scored on a pass from Badiola with 4:07 left in the period to make it 4-1. La Indiana fought back with a penalty goal from Biddle and a goal from the field from Joao Ganon, 4-3. Obregon converted a 40-yard penalty shot for a goal to end the chukker with Palm Beach Illustrated on top, 5-3.

The pace quickened in the third period with Palm Beach Illustrated pressing the attack. A penalty goal from Obregon in the opening minute of the third chukker made it 6-3, and a goal from the field from Badiola came with just 1:41 left in the period. La Indiana was unable to score, and fell behind by four goals, 7-3 after the first three chukkers of play.\Biddle converted a 40-yard penalty shot to open the second half, and cut the Palm Beach Illustrated lead to three goals, 7-4. Obregon countered with a penalty goal of his own, 8-4. Jesse Bray scored his first goal of the day to close out the chukker with Palm Beach Illustrated enjoying a 9-4 advantage.

Palm Beach Illustrated was looking to put the game away in the fifth with Bray adding a goal from the field to make it 10-4 when La Indiana came alive. A goal from Australian 7-goaler Ruki Baillieu and a great individual effort from La Indiana team captain Michael Bickford cut the lead to four goals, 10-6, with one chukker remaining in regulation play.

The La Indiana rally disappeared as quickly as it appeared with an oppressive Palm Beach Illustrated defense smothering any offensive effort. Badiola scored at the 3:42 mark, 11-6, and Obregon scored the final goal of the game on a penalty conversion to end the match with Palm Beach Illustrated claiming their first win of the season, 12-6.

Obregon scored five times in a balanced Palm Beach Illustrated attack. Badiola added three goals with Zenni and Bray scoring two goals each for the win. Biddle scored all three of his goals on penalty conversions for La Indiana. Ganon, Baillieu and Bickford added single goals in their second tournament loss.

Joe Barry Memorial Cup action will continue on Thursday, January 14^th at the International Polo Club with Audi - Millarville (Grant Ganzi, Nic Roldan, Julian Mannix and Freddie Mannix) battling Dubai (Rashid Albwardy, Carlos Gracida, Diego Cavanagh and Alejo Taranco) at 11am. Defending champion Orchard Hill (Steve Van Andel, Polito Pieres, Peke Gonzalez and Lucas Criado) and Valiente (Bob Jornayvaz, Roberto Zedda, Santi Torres and Santi Chavanne) will meet at 1pm with Villa del Lago (Jim Zenni, Guille Aguero, Hilario Ulloa and Agustin Obregon) and Tonkawa (Jeff Hildebrand, Gonzalo Deltour, Sebastian Merlos and Mason Wroe) closing out the day in a 3pm game.

The International Polo Club is located at 3667 120th Avenue in Wellington. For more information about the IPC, tournament information or tickets, call 561-282-5334 or visit InternationalPoloClub.com.