Wins by El Remanso and Dubai send them to quarterfinals

By Alex Webbe

El Remanso (Hugo Lewis, Charlie Hanbury, Pelon Stirling and Guillermo Terrera) managed to hold on for a Cartier Queens Cup win Sunday afternoon against a testy Twelve Oaks foursome (Juan Gris Zavaleta, Magoo Laprida, Iñaki Laprida and Fraser Potter) in a 9-7 win that propelled them into a quarterfinal position. Dubai (Rashid Albwardy, Alastair Paterson, Adolfo Cambiaso and Diego Cavanagh) also earned a quarterfinal berth with an 8-4 victory at the expense of EFG Bank Aravali (Jaime Garcia Huidobro, Alejandro Muzzio, Joaquin Pittaluga and Charlie Pidgley).

El Remanso got the ball rolling against a winless but stubborn Twelve Oaks team that battled them to a 4-4 halftime score. El Remanso 10-goaler Pelon Stirling did the heavy lifting for El Remanso with three of the teams four first half scores. Juan Gris Zavaleta did likewise for Twelve Oaks, scoring three of their four goals in the opening three periods of play.

Two more goals from Stirling in the fourth gave El Remanso some separation as they moved in front, 6-5. Magoo Laprida scored the sole goal for Twelve Oaks.

The fifth chukker got no easier for el Remanso as Twelve Oaks played doggedly on defense. Stirling suffered a violent fall to the turf after a collision with a Twelve Oaks player resulting in a 10 minute delay in the game and a penalty shot awarded to El Remanso. Stirling converted a 30-yard penalty shot for a 7-5 advantage but Magoo Laprida cut the lead back to one goal, 7-6, for the final score of the period.

Stirling and Magoo Laprida exchanged goals in the sixth chukker, with El Remanso maintaining an 8-7 edge. With time running out, Magoo Laprida miscued on a knock-in, sending the ball through his own goal for the 9-7 final score.

The victory sends El Remanso (3-1) to the Cartier Queens Cup quarterfinals on Saturday, June 7. Twelve Oaks (0-3) suffered their third loss in as many games and was eliminated from the playoff picture.

Dubai 8, EFG Bank Aravali 4

Dubai secured a Cartier Queens Cup quarterfinal position Sunday afternoon behind five goals from Diego Cavanagh as a floundering EFG Bank Aravali team struggled to find an offensive punch.

The first half was all Dubai, jumping out to a 5-0 lead before EFG Bank Aravali could even get on the scoreboard. The first half ended with Dubai in possession of a 6-1 lead, with EFG Bank Aravali offering token resistance.

With Dubai looking past EFG Bank Aravali, they cruised to a listless 8-4 win, assured of a playoff position on the strength of its 3-0 record. EFG Bank Aravali was eliminated as they lost for the third consecutive time,

Monday’s Cartier Queens Cup action will feature the defending championship Zacara team (Facundo Pieres, Lyndon Lea, Gonzalo Deltour and Matt Perry) against HB Polo (Ludovic Pailloncy, Ignacio Toccalino, Pite Merlos and Sebastien Pailloncy). The second match of the day has Sifani (Hilali Noordeen, Matias Torres Zavaleta, Nic Roldan and Juan Ambroggio) facing King Power (“Top” Srivaddhanaprabha, Pablo Llorente, Gonzalito Pieres and Marcos di Paola), with both teams out of the quarterfinal picture with 1-2 records.