La Dolfina and Las Monjitas Dominate on Day 4 of Hurlingham Open
The fourth day of play in the 2018 Hurlingham Open saw two dominant performances as Las Monjitas defeated La Canada 20-6 while La Dolfina made their debut with an impressive 22-8 victory over Cria Yatay at Hurlingham Polo Club.
The opening game of the day saw Las Monjitas race off to a quick start after Hilario Ulloa scored from 80 yards out to open the scoring. Sapo Caset added a goal from the field and the penalty line before the end of the chukka, to give Ls Monjitas the 3-0 lead, while La Canada struggled to generate any offense of their own. The remainder of the opening half followed a similar script with Las Monjitas continuing to expand their lead, while La Canada was held to just one goal from the field over the first four chukkas. Caset paced the Las Monjitas offense as he was directly involved with seven of the ten Las Monjitas goals, while also shooting a perfect 3 for 3 from the penalty line to give his team the 10-2 lead at halftime.
La Canada had their strongest chukka of the game in the fifth chukka, outscoring Las Monjitas 2-1, but their inaccuracy from the field and penalty line prevented them from reducing the deficit any further. Converting just 4 for 10 from the field, La Canada was forced into difficult attempts from the field as the backline of Santiago Toccalino and Hilario Ulloa continually pressured La Canada. Shooting an inaccurate 2 for 6 from the penalty line also added to La Canada’s problems as they were unable to slow the quick Las Monjitas utilized counter attack that created numerous runs to goal. Shooting an accurate 14 for 19 in the game, the Las Monjitas offense overwhelmed La Canada throughout the game and finished with the convincing 20-4 victory.
The second game of the day saw La Dolfina make their debut in the Hurlingham Open after claiming the Tortugas Open and they continued where they left off, dominating Cria Yatay from start to finish. After the two teams traded goals on the two opening throw-ins of the game with Adolfo Cambiaso and Joaquin Pittaluga scoring for their respective teams, it was all La Dolfina for the remainder of the half. Scoring 15 of the remaining 16 goals in the half, La Dolfina built a large lead with their quick passing attack and ability to draw fouls on Cria Yatay. David Stirling was especially active in the middle of the field, creating multiple penalty attempts for La Dolfina and the duo of Pablo MacDonough and Cambiaso took full advantage as they combined to shoot 8 of 9 from the penalty line over the first four chukkas. Cria Yatay were unable to receive any penalty attempts of their own and added just two goals from the field to find themselves facing a 16-2 deficit with three chukkas remaining.
Holding the double-digit lead, La Dolfina eased on their defensive pressure as Cria Yatay’s foul issues disappeared over the final three chukkas. Joaquin Pittaluga and Valerio Zubiaurre finished with three goals each, but the inability to slow the dynamic La Dolfina passing attack that rarely slowed down proved to be too much. Cambiaso and MacDonough combined for 17 goals in the dominant performance and despite tying the final three chukkas at 6-6, La Dolfina cruised to the dominant 22-8 victory.