By Alex Webbe
The King Power Foxes (T. Srivaddhanaprabha, Hugo Lewis, Gonzalito Pieres and Facundo Pieres) rode onto the field as the 215 British Open champions and boasted a lineup that included 10-goalers Facundo and Gonzalito Pieres, two of the games top-rated players. Zacara (Tom Brody, Lyndon Lea, Lucas Monteverde and Pablo Macdonough) had previously won the British Open before in 2011 and 2013 and showed up with 10-goaler Pablo MacDonough and former 10-goaler Lucas Monteverde.
Back and forth play I the opening chukkers saw Zacara finally break away with a goal from Monteverde to end the second chukker with a 4-2 advantage.
Monteverde made it 5-2 with the opening goal of the third period when King Power got their offense on track. Three straight goals (two on penalty shots) ended the first half with the score all even at 5-5. Macdonough gave the lead back to Zacara in fourth chukker action, but had the attack stall on them for the balance of the chukker. A foul in the goal mouth gave King Power a penalty shot directly in front of the Zacara goalposts, with Pieres tapping it through to deadlock the game at 6-6.
Facundo Pieres converted a 60-yard penalty shot for the opening score in the fifth period and a 7-6 King Power lead. Monteverde scored the tying goal from the field, 7-7. A Zacara foul sent Facundo Pieres to the penalty line with under a minute on the clock where he scored from the 60-yard mark and ended the chukker with King Power on top, 8-7.
Goals were scarce in the sixth chukker with King Power concentrating on defense and Zacara trying to stay alive. MacDonough scored the tying goal with a well-executed neck-shot for an 8-8 score with time expiring and a sudden-death overtime on tap.
Zacara had initial control of the ball due to an infraction by Facundo Pieres (hitting the ball after the whistle sounded) that resulted in a yellow card and a hit to Zacara. An initial run at goal was turned aside and the field was reversed. Facundo Pieres pounded his way down the field, quickly approaching the Zacara goal before firing from over 50-yards out for the winning goal.
The victory went to the defending champion King Power Foxes in overtime, keeping them unbeaten at 2-0 while Zacara fell to 1-1.
British Open play continues on Wednesday with three games on the menu. In a noon contest, La Bamba de Areco (Jean Francois Decaux, Diego Cavanagh, Magoo Laprida and Rodrigo Rueda) faces Apes Hill (George Hanbury, Mark Tomlinson, Eduardo N. Astrada and Alec White); Clarke & Green (Nick Clarke, Juan G. Zavaleta, Luke Tomlinson and John Paul Clarkin) will take on HB Polo Team (Ludovic Pailloncy, Ignacio Toccalino, Pelon Stirling and Sebastien Pailloncy) at 2pm; followed by a 4pm game between Britannia El Remanso (Charlie Hanbury, Ollie Cudmore, James Beim and James Harper) and the Cowdray Vikings (George Pearson, Chris Mackenzie, Jack Richardson and Alejandro Novillo Astrada).