Park Place Defeats King Power in Third Round Match
Holding 1-1 records entering their third-round match, King Power and Park Place met in the 2021 Gold Cup for the British Open Championship in a crucial game for quarterfinal positioning. Even early in the contest, Park Place pulled away with their accurate shooting to claim the 12-9 victory at Noel Farm.
Shooting an efficient 9 for 13, Park Place’s impressive offense led them to victory in a closely, marked contest where each team worked hard for their opportunities on goal. Held without a field goal until the fifth chukka, King Power kept pace with Park Place thanks to five penalty goals in the first half, but ultimately could not match the proficient Park Place attack. Continuing his strong play in the tournament, Facundo Pieres led his team with six goals and three assists in the important 12-9 win.
A start and stop beginning to the match resulted in the first three goals coming from the penalty line, two for King Power’s Hilario Ulloa and one for Park Place’s Pieres. Driving his team forward, Pieres assisted on a field goal for Juan Britos at the end of the first chukka and converted a Penalty 4 on the opening play of the second chukka, completing a three-goal stretch for Park Place. However, foul trouble proved to be a factor for Park Place, conceding five more attempts before the end of the half, three of which were converted by Ulloa. In arguably the most crucial chukka of the game, Park Place added four goals with Pieres scoring two more tallies while finding Will Harper on two separate occasions to give Park Place the 8-5 lead at halftime.
Improving their discipline, Park Place kept King Power off the penalty line for the remainder of the game, taking away their only source of offense from the first half. Pieres’ sixth goal proved to be the only offense in the fourth chukka as Park Place extended their lead to four. Francisco Elizalde finally ended King Power’s drought from the field in the fifth chukka, restoring the three-goal deficit but King Power was unable to pull any closer entering the sixth chukka. In one of the goals of the match, Park Place took a knock-in the length of the field, finished by Andrey Borodin to push the lead back to four and leave King Power with little time for a comeback. Two late goals from Elizalde and Ulloa were not enough to challenge Park Place in the final minutes of the 12-9 defeat.