Dutta Corp. dominates Pilot to clinch the Ylvasiker Cup

The 2019 Herbie Pennell Cup and Joe Barry Cup champions, Dutta Corp capped off their 2019 season with a victory in another high profile tournament by beating the strong side of Pilot. Pilot and Dutta Corp had faced each other prior to this encounter this season for the Butler Handicap trophy during Ylvisaker Cup Bracket play, where they were soundly beaten by Pilot. With the wounds of defeat still fresh, Dutta was in no mood to let the mistakes of the past repeat. Tim Dutta, commenting about the match, said: “We lost a game against Pilot, but that was a learning curve for us and we figured out our mistakes and went to the drawing board to figure out how we could beat them.”

Team Compositions

Dutta Corp.	Pilot
Lucas Diaz Alberdi, 5	Curtis Pilot, 0
Timmy Dutta, 2	Matias Gonzalez, 3
Gringo Colombres, 7	Lucas James, 7
Kris Kampsen, 6	Facundo Pieres, 10

Match Breakdown

Dutta Corp.made their intentions clear by brutally dominating in the first half. The game began at a slower pace, with both the teams not being able to score after multiple attempts in the first chukker. The second chukker opened with a penalty conversion by Kris Kampsen and Dutta registered their first goal on the scoreboard. Then, Pilot’s Facundo Pieres converted a Penalty from the 3rd line to score Pilot’s only goal of the 2nd chukker. Dutta then lashed out another monstrous attack, this time scoring off of two penalties and a beautiful shot by Gringo Colombres off a throw-in to cap off with 3 goals in the 2nd chukker.This led to Dutta Corp leading with 4-1 after the first two chukkers.

Pilot’s then tried another comeback, with Pieres setting up and Lucas James nailing the shots. But Dutta Corp’s discipline in maintaining positions and sticking to the strategy played off and they were able to squash any momentum that Pilot was able to build. Timmy Dutta gave credit to the team’s excellent strategy to the coaches Joao Paulo Gano and Michel Dorignac: “The coaching has been great,” Timmy Dutta said. “They are able to see from an outside perspective and we enjoy playing more classical polo by opening up the game and controlling our opponents.”

Lucas Diaz Alberdi was awarded the Most Valuable Player honor. “With Facundo running Pilot’s organization we could not make any mistakes,” said Diaz Alberi. “The last game we played against them we missed two 40-yard penalties and a couple of goals, but today we were watching them and going to Pieres and Lucas James in every play. I think we had an amazing game.”

However, Pieres’ resilient efforts kept his team afloat in the match. It was evident that players of his caliber are competent enough to still cause damage even with the other team’s defense hot on their trails. On Pieres performance, Timmy Dutta said “To me, Facundo is the best player in the world and I played with him last year so I know how amazing he is. To beat him today is an honor. I believe that playing with Pilot last year definitely improved me as a polo player.”

Even with Pieres’ efforts, Dutta Corp. still managed to control a majority of the possession in the second half. Going into the 4th Chukker, the score was 8-5.

In the second half, both the teams seemed to embrace Penalty lines 2 and 3 with a 100% conversion rate from these positions. But, the story for the rest of the match remained the same as the first half. For each Pilot goal, Dutta replied with 1 or 2 from their side, relinquishing the lead not once throughout the match.

After an impressive showing of his team, Tim Dutta was visibly elated. Eyeing for the US Open Polo Championship next, Dutta commented: “In our team meeting last night the four of them got their marching orders and they didn’t miss a beat. They wanted to win this, three tournaments of the 20-goal, and I think we have proved that this is the team to beat. I hope we can come back and give it a shot at the U.S. Open Polo Championship next year.”