La Dolfina and La Aguada start Hurlingham Open with wins
By Alex Webbe
The 31-goal Washington contingent (Diego Cavanagh, Ezequiel Ferrario, Facundo Sola and Alfredo Cappella) received a cold welcome to the second leg of the Argentine Triple Crown as the defending Hurlingham Open championship, 40-goal La Dolfina quartet (Adolfo Cambiaso, Pelon Stirling, Pablo MacDonough and Juan Martin Nero) pummeled them in a 22-12 victory on the fields of the Hurlingham Club Tuesday afternoon.
Washington matched La Dolfina goal for goal in the opening chukker resulting in what might have been a false sense of security for the coral-shirted challengers, but the veteran teamwork of the Cañuelas four brought them back down to earth with a thud.
La Dolfina scored two unanswered goals in the second period and then outscored Washington 6-2 in the next two chukkers for a commanding 11-5 halftime lead.
A 3-1 fifth chukker extended the La Dolfina lead to eight goals, 14-6 with Washington struggling to stay in the game.
A brief rally in the fifth had them match La Dolfina’s two goals, but with just two periods left in regulation play they would need to do more than match them, a difficult task when you are playing with your back to the game.
A 4-1 seventh period firmly closed the door on any thought of a late Washington rally as La Dolfina rode off the field with a towering 20-9 Advantage.
Giving credit to the Washington lineup, there was no quit in them in the final chukker of play. Three Washington goals, the most single chukker goals scored by them since the opening period of the game, were countered by a pair of goals from La Dolfina who cruised to the 22-12 win.
Adolfo Cambiaso scored four of his team high eight goals on penalty shots. Juan Martin Nero tallied seven goals (one on a penalty conversion); with Pablo MacDonough scoring four times and Pelon Stirling adding three goals for the win. Facundo Sola’s ten goals led all scoring, with nine of them coming on penalty shots. Diego Cavanagh and Ezequiel Ferrario added single goals for Washington in the loss.
La Aguada 13, La Aguada/Las Monjitas 12
In the most competitive Hurlingham Open match of the day La Aguada (Agustín Merlos, Guillermo Terrera, Sapo Caset and Ignacio Novillo Astrada) snuck past La Aguada/ Las Monjitas (Ignacio Toccalino, Pancho Bensadon, Eduardo N. Astrada Jr. and Alejandro Novillo Astrada) by a single goal, 13-12, in a real barn-burner.
La Aguada edged La Aguada/Las Monjitas 2-1 after the first chukker and managed to maintain the one goal lead through the next three of play for a narrow 8-7 halftime advantage.
The La Aguada/Las Monjitas tem got a little offensive traction in the fifth chukker, scoring three goals while holding La Aguada scoreless. It was La Aguada/Las Monjitas who left the field after the fifth chukker with a 10-8 edge.
Both teams displayed disciplined defenses in the sixth chukker with La Aguada managing the only goal of the period. With two periods left in regulation play La Aguada/Las Monjitas found themselves defending a narrow 10-9 lead.
La Aguada stepped it up in the seventh, scoring two goals to a single score from La Aguada/Las Monjitas. With one chukker left to play the score was all even at 11-11.
Guillermo Terrera scored the go-ahead goal for La Aguada, 12-11, in the eighth, but Ignacio Toccalino countered with a goal for La Aguada/Las Monjitas, 12-12. With the time running down on the game clock it was Agustin Merlos with the winning goal, his eighth of the day for the 13-12 La Aguada victory.
Hurlingham Open play continues on Wednesday, October 21 with Ellerstina (Polito Pieres, Nico Pieres, Gonzalito Pieres and Facundo Pieres) trying to bounce back from their loss to La Dolfina in the final of the Tortugas Open facing the qualifying Magual polo team (Alejandro Muzzio, Francisco Elizalde, Marco Di Paola and Santiago Toccalino) in a 2pm match followed at 4pm in another Hurlingham Open game between Alegria (Magoo Laprida, Hilario Ulloa, Lucas Monteverde and Fred Mannix) and Chapaleufú (Pepe Heguy, Nachi Heguy, Bautista Heguy and Eduardo Heguy).
(Photo courtesy of the AAP and Matias Callejo)