Ellerstina struggles in 15-13 win; Alegria edges , 19-18
By Alex Webbe
In what should have been a walk in the park Wednesday afternoon for Ellerstina (Polito Pieres, Nico Pieres, Gonzalito Pieres and Facundo Pieres) in the opening round of the 2015 Hurlingham Open exposed the weaknesses in their new lineup. The 39-goal favorite trailed the 31-goal challenger, Magual (Alejandro Muzzio, Francisco Elizalde, Marco Di Paola and Santiago Toccalino), for three of the first four chukkers of play, and never really got any separation from them as they escaped with an unimpressive 15-13 victory.
The two teams traded goals in the opening chukker for a 2-2 tie before Magual out-pointed Ellerstina 3-1 in the second period for a 5-3 advantage. Magual continued to lead through the third, 7-6, and the fourth, 9-8, before Ellerstina finally got something going on in fifth chukker play.
Surprisingly enough, it wasn’t any of Ellerstina’s three 10-goalers with the hot mallet as Nico Pieres let the team with seven goals on the day as they narrowly took the lead back in the fifth, 11-10, with a 3-1 run.
Magual continued to match Ellerstina goal-for-goal through the sixth, 13-12, and seventh chukkers, 14-13, before, making it a two goal victory with the only goal of the eighth chukker for the 15-13 win.
Nico Pieres led the Ellerstina lineup with seven goals (two on penalty conversions). Polito Pieres and Facundo Pieres scored three goals apiece (all three of Facundo’s goals came on penalty conversions), and Gonzalito Pieres added two goals in the win. Alejandro Muzzio’s six goals led the Magual attack. Santiago Toccalino added three penalty goals with Francisco Elizalde and Marcos Di Paola scoring two goals each in the loss.
Alegria 19, Chapaleufú 18
In the second match of the day Alegria (Magoo Laprida, Hilario Ulloa, Lucas Monteverde and Fred Mannix) didn’t have a much easier time in defeating Chapaleufú (Pepe Heguy, Nachi Heguy, Bautista Heguy, Julian Lusarreta and Eduardo Heguy) in a high-scoring 19-18 affair.
Alegria broke open a 6-6 third chukker tie with five goals in the fourth that boosted them to an 11-8 halftime lead as Hilario Ulloa caught on fire. An injury to Bautista Heguy saw him leave the field to be replaced by 6-goaler Julian de Lusaretta for the balance of the contest, a move that had a negative impact on the game as far as the Chapaleufú team was concerned.
Alegria continued to hold the lead throughout the second half, but Chapaleufú never gave p and continued to press the Alegria defense through the balance of the game.
Chapaleufú scored their eighteenth goal of the game and came within a goal of the lead with one minute remaining in regulation play, but were unable to level the score and push the game into overtime.
Hilario Ulloa came alive and scored a game-high thirteen goals (one on a penalty shot). Magoo Laprida added three goals; Lucas Monteverde scored twice and team captain Fred Mannix was credited with a goal in the win. Eduardo Heguy scored all eight of his goals on penalty conversions). Pepe Heguy and Nachi Heguy added four goals apiece; Bautista Heguy scored once before leaving the goal in the fourth chukker (injury) and his replacement, Julian de Lusarreta scored a goal in the loss.
Hurlingham Open play will continue on Friday, October 23rd with La Aguada (Agustín Merlos, Guillermo Terrera, Sapo Caset and Ignacio Novillo Astrada) playing Washington (Diego Cavanagh, Ezequiel M. Ferrario, Facundo Sola and Alfredo Cappella) in a 2 o’clock game followed by a match featuring La Dolfina (Adolfo Cambiaso, Pelon Stirling, Pablo MacDonough and Juan Martin Nero) and La Aguada/ Las Monjitas (Ignacio Toccalino, Pite Merlos, Eduardo N. Astrada Jr. and Alejandro Novillo Astrada) at 4pm.
Ellerstina is scheduled to return to action on Saturday, October 24th against Chapaleufú, and will have all eyes on their performance as they try to get their offense back on track for a run at the second leg of Argentina’s Triple Crown of polo, the Hurlingham Open.
(Photo courtesy of the AAP and Matías Callejo)
