Lucchese wins, is in quarterfinals; UAE stays alive by beating Black Bears, 10-9

By Alex Webbe

Lucchese (John Muse, Lucas James, Nico Pieres and Luke Tomlinson) sewed up a berth in the quarterfinals of the 2014 Cartier Queens Cup, but it wasn’t easy as they battled Cortium (Francisco Elizalde, Salvador Ulloa, Tomas Garcia del Rio, Adrian Kirby) to an 11-10 victory that wasn’t decided until the closing seconds of the final chukker Saturday afternoon

Cortium took the early lead, outscoring Lucchese 2-1 in the opening chukker. Lucchese (2-1) needed the win to secure a quarterfinal berth, but Cortium (1-1) didn’t feel that they were out of contention in spite of an earlier 9-7 loss to Talandracas (Edouard Carmignac, Juan Martin Nero, Polito Pieres and Santiago Stirling).

Lucchese got a pair of second chukker penalty conversions from Nico Pieres while holding Cortium scoreless. After two periods of play Lucchese moved in front, 3-2.

Luke Tomlinson converted a penalty shot to tie it up at 6-6, leaving it as anyone’s game as each team struggled to take and keep the momentum.

Lucchese finally settled into a steady force in the final chukker, breaking open a 9-9 tie and securing the 11-10 win. The victory gave Lucchese a 3-1 record in their league and assured them of a spot in the playoffs. The loss dropped the Cortium record to 1-2, with no chance of moving ahead regardless of the outcome of their next match against King Power (“Top” Srivaddhanaprabha, Pablo Llorente, Gonzalito Pieres and Marcos di Paola).

UAE 10, BLACK BEARS 9

The “bad news” Black Bears (Guy Schwarzenbach, Facundo Sola, John Paul Clarkin and Patrick O’Dwyer) just haven’t gotten a break in Cartier Queens Cup competition as they suffered their third consecutive 10-9, one goal loss to UAE (Kian Hall, Lucas Monteverde, Pablo MacDonough and Ollie Cudmore) in Saturday’s 3pm game at The Guards Polo Club.

Black Bears took the first lead of the game and left the field after the first chukker with a 2-1 edge. UAE was playing without HRH Maitha Al Maktoum but young Kian Hall had served admirably in her stead.

Four second chukker goals from UAE were answered by a single goal from Black Bears. UAE had taken the lead, 5-3.

Both defenses tightened up in the third chukker, keeping scoring to a minimum. Single goals were netted by each team and the first half ended with UAE on the leading end of a 6-4 score.

A determined UAE team rode onto the field for the fourth chukker and added another two goals. Black Bears were shutout for the first time all day and fell behind 8-4.

A fifth chukker rally by the Black Bears cut the UAE lead back to two goals, 9-7, as their offense began to sputter and Guy Schwarzenbach team seemed to be gaining momentum.

UAE stepped it up defensively in the sixth chukker, taking the wind out of the sails of the Black Bears. The two teams traded goals, but UAE remained two goals in front, 10-8. Play was halted with 1:40 left in the period Ollie Cudmore was on the receiving end or a backhand shot by a teammate that hit him in the eye. After several minutes he was replaced by Alastair Paterson. When play resumed, the Black Bears managed a final run at the goal, with John Paul Clarkin carrying it through the goal posts, but time had run out for them and they found themselves on the receiving end of another 10-9 loss.

Twelve Oaks (Juan Gris Zavaleta, Magoo Laprida, Iñaki Laprida and Stefano Marsaglia) and El Remanso (Hugo Lewis, Charlie Hanbury, Pelon Stirling and Guillermo Terrera) will kick off Sunday’s Cartier Queens Cup play followed by a 3pm contest between Dubai (Rashid Albwardy, Alastair Paterson, Adolfo Cambiaso and Diego Cavanagh) and EFG Bank Aravali (Jaime Garcia Huidobro, Alejandro Muzzio, Joaquin Pittaluga and Charlie Pidgley).