The second semi-final match of the 2015 Joe Barry Memorial Cup at the International Polo Club Palm Beach in in Wellington, Florida between Orchard Hill (Steve Van Andel, Lucas Criado, Facundo Pieres and Remy Muller) and Lucchese (Benjamin Avendano, Magoo Laprida, Nico Pieres and Geronimo Obregon) was completed on Thursday at 11am. On Wednesday afternoon, the match had to be interrupted in the fourth chukka, following a heavy fall of Lucchese’s Andres Weisz.
In the first chukka, Orchard Hill took the early lead, 2-1. After Nico Pieres tied it up in the opening minute of the second period with his second goal of the game, but Orchard Hill regained the lead and the second chukka ended 4-2 for Orchard Hill. In the third chukka Orchard Hill was able to extend their lead to 7-3.
Lucchese fought back in the fourth chukka and shorten the distance to 7-6. A violent collision between players at 2:47 sent Weisz and his horse to the ground. After several minutes of medical assistance Weisz was removed from the field and an alternate was recruited. It was decided that with the growing darkness, the match would be suspended until the following morning at 11am, and the teams left the field with Orchard Hill in possession of a two goal lead, 8-6.
At the resumption of play the following day, Geronimo Obregon played for Lucchese as a replacement for Andres Weisz. During the second half of the match Orchard Hill tried to increase their lead, but Lucchese would not give up and made it difficult for Orchard Hill. In the fifth chukka, Obregon tied the match at 12-12 with his third goal of the game. Facundo Pieres gave the lead back to his team, but his brother Nico Pieres tied up once again, 13-13. During the last seconds, Facundo Pieres took control of the ball at midfield and wove his way through the Lucchese players to score the winning goal, 14-13, sending his team to the final of the 2015 Joe Barry Memorial Cup.
Orchard Hill will face Villa Del Lago (Jim Zenni, Agustin Obregon, Polito Pieres and Julian de Lusarreta) in Sunday’s 3pm tournament final.
