Chapa Uno
upsets La Aguada; La Dolfina steamrolls Pilara Piaget
By Alex Webbe
Chapa Uno (1-1)
upset La Aguada 9-7 on the Number 2 field at Palermo today as competition
continues in the 2011 Argentine Open.
The loss drops La Aguada’s record to 1-1 as they try to adapt to the
loss of team leader Miguel Novillo Astrada who has been sidelined with a riding
muscle tear, and is doubtful for the team’s showdown with La Dolfina next week.
With a lack
of either focus or teamplay, the two teams struggled through a 0-0 first
chukker, and didn’t create a lot of excitement in the second period. Two minutes into the second period, Nacho
Astrada converted a Penalty 4 to account for all of the scoring through the
first periods in a 1-0 contest.
Chapa Uno
showed signs of life in the third when Polito Pieres found himself on the
connecting end of a pass from teammate Rodrigo Andrade to tie it up at
1-1. A foul by Chapa Uno put La Aguada
on the penalty line in the final minute of the chukker. Ignacio Toccalino (substituting for Miguel
Astrada) converted the penalty shot to end the chukker with La Aguada guarding
a tenuous one goal, 2-1 lead.
Choppy play
continued into the fourth chukker, with Chapa Uno taking advantage of a La
Aguada foul. Jaime Huidobro converted
the shot for a goal and a 2-2 tie.
Polito Pieres put Chapa Uno on top with a great individual play, three
minutes into the period to make it 3-2 for their first lead of the day. Just over a minute later Pieres scored again
for a 4-2 advantage. Pieres took the ensuing
throw-in 150 yards down the field for his third consecutive goal and a 5-2
lead. La Aguada struggled to find its
identity, but none of the characteristics of the familiar Novillo Astrada team
were present, and a renewed Chapa Uno team left the field at the end of the
first half on the winning end of a 5-2 score.
Rodrigo
Andrade opened the fifth chukker with a goal from the field in the first minute
of play, 6-3, before La Aguada could respond.
Chapa Uno continued to control the ball until Nacho Astrada scored his
first goal from the field, but they continued to trail by three goals as the
chukker ended.
La Aguada
seemed to come to life for a moment in the sixth with Eduardo Astrada scoring
in the opening seconds of play cutting the Chapa Uno to lead to two goals,
6-4. La Aguada continued to press the
attack, and began to show some of the trademark moves of the team. Blocks, picks and ride-offs supported the
play of a teammate as they crept closer to the Chapa Uno goal, but an
interception and a clearing pass extinguished any further thoughts of a rally.
Huidobro
took advantage of a Penalty 5 by converting the 100 yard shot about halfway
through the chukker. Ninety seconds
later, Guillermo Caset converted a penalty shot to give Chapa Uno an 8-4 cushion. La Aguada mounted a run at goal with less
than a minute to play in the period, with Pieres making a heroic clearing save
that resulted in a Safety. Nacho Astrada
missed the penalty shot and the sixth chukker came to a close with Chapa Uno
boasting a four goal advantage.
Just over a
minute into the seventh chukker Pieres found himself on the receiving end of an
80-yard, well-placed backhander by Caset, but the shot at goal went wide. Andrade took advantage of a pass from Pieres
to make it 9-4 with less than two minutes left in the seventh. Nacho Astrada converted a 40-yard penalty
shot to end the period. La Aguada
trailed 9-5 with one chukker left in regulation time.
Once again,
La Aguada charged into the play with Nacho Astrada making a 200-yard run for a
goal. La Aguada was pressing the attack
once again in front of the Chapa Uno goal, but a clearing shot from Chapa Uno
scattered the threat. La Aguada scored
their final goal of the match with less than a minute to play as Nacho Astrada
converted a penalty shot for a goal in the 9-7 loss to Chapa Uno.
Pieres led
the Chapa Uno attack with four goals, Andrade and Huidobro scored two goals
apiece and Caset added a goal in the win.
Nacho
Astrada scored five times for La Aguada (three on penalty shots).Toccalino and
Eduardo Astrada added single goals in the losing effort.
LA DOLFINA 20, PILARA
PIAGET 7
It was
business as usual for La Dolfina as they steamrolled Pilara Piaget 20-7 in the
late game this afternoon at Palermo with Adolfo Cambiaso scoring nine times in
the win. La Dolfina (2-1) remains
undefeated, averaging over 20 goals a game, while Pilara Piaget falls to 0-2.
Bautista
Heguy got Pilara Piaget on the scoreboard first, taking a pass from Magoo
Laprida for the opening goal. Less than
a minute later, La Dolfina answered with a goal from the field from Pelon Stirling,
who was following up a Cambiaso drive to the goal. Pablo MacDonough drove the ball through from
over 100 yards out for a 2-1 lead. La
Dolfina had an opportunity to add another goal to its total with 30 seconds
left in the chukker, but the penalty shot by Cambiaso was blocked and the
chukker ended with Pilara Piaget trailing by a single goal, 2-1.
A new La
Dolfina team took the field in the second chukker with Juan Martin Nero jumping
all over a mishandled ball in front of the Pilara Piaget goal for a score just
44 seconds into the period, 3-1.
MacDonough quickly made it 4-1, taking the throw-in and carrying it down
the field for a score. Cambiaso made it
5-1 on a penalty conversion. The breaks
weren’t happening for Pilara Piaget with Luke Tomlinson’s open goal penalty
shot getting blocked. Nero closed out
the chukker with his second goal of the match.
Pilara Piaget found itself looking at a five goal, 6-1 deficit after just
two periods of play.
La Dolfina
didn’t look as if it was pressing in the third, with Heguy scoring from the
field and Cambiaso converting a penalty shot to keep La Dolfina ahead by five
goals, 7-2 at the end of the period.
Pilara
Piaget continued to press the La Dolfina defense with Heguy taking advantage of
fouls to score three penalty goals.
Cambiaso accounted for La Dolfina’s only goal of the period with Pilar
Piaget getting back into the game, trailing 8-5.
Whatever
Cambiaso told his teammates at halftime, they appeared to be listening, as they
outscored Pilara Piaget 8-0 over the fifth and sixth chukkers. Defense was outstanding, and the teamwork of
the La Dolfina players reminded everyone that this was a 39-goal team and was
comprised of some of the games top players.
Cambiaso
converted two penalty shots in the fourth and Nero and Stirling added single
goals for a 12-5 lead.
Cambiaso
scored twice from the field in the sixth, with MacDonough and Stirling rounding
out the scoring with single goals and an impressive 11 goal 16-5 advantage.
La Dolfina
produced three more unanswered goals in the seventh chukker. Following a missed penalty (Safety) shot by
Cambiaso to open the chukker, Stirling and MacDonough scored single goals,
18-5. Cambiaso ended the period with a
penalty goal leaving Pilar Piaget trailing, 19-5.
Hilario
Ulloa and Heguy chipped in single goals in the final chukker, but there
wouldn’t be enough time for Pilar Piaget to catch the explosive La Dolfina
offense. Stirling closed out the scoring
in the impressive 20-7 win.
Cambiaso was
credited with eight goals on the day.
Stirling scored five times; MacDonough added four goals; and Nero added
three for the win.
Heguy scored
six goals for Pilara Piaget. Ulloa added
a goal in the loss.
Argentine
Open action continues on Sunday, November 27 with Estancia Grande (1-0) meeting
Alegria (0-1) in the early game followed by a showdown between 2010 defending
champion Ellerstina (1-0) and Chapaleufu Indios II (0-1).