Ellerstina and La
Aguada win; will meet in Hurlingham Open semifinals
By Alex Webbe
La Aguada (Facundo Sola, Guillermo Caset Jr., Miguel Novillo
Astrada and Ignacio Novillo Astrada) and Ellerstina (Facundo Pieres, Gonzalo
Pieres Jr., Mariano Aguerre and Nicolas Pieres) each recorded their second
consecutive win in their bracket Thursday afternoon, settling the final
semifinalists in the 2014 Hurlingham Open championship.
La Aguada destroyed Chapaleufu (Pepe Heguy, Nachi Heguy,
Francisco Bensadon and Bautista Heguy) 19-8 to open the day and earn a berth in
Sunday’s semifinal. Ellerstina knocked Magual
(Alejandro Muzzio, Ignacio Toccalino, Marcos Di Paola and Jaime Garcia Huidobro)
out of the competition on the strength of a 15-7 win to close out the day and
earn the right to face La Aguada in the semifinals.
La Aguada and Chapaleufu went scoreless in the opening
chukker before La Aguada put a couple of goals on the scoreboard in the second period. Chapaleufu scored once as La Aguada took a
2-1 lead into the third chukker.
La Aguada added three goals in the third while Chapaleufu
responded with a pair of goals of their own.
La Aguada continued to lead but Chapaleufu remained in striking
distance, just two goals off the 5-2 lead.
La Aguada stretched their lead to three goals in the
fourth. Outscoring Chapaleufu, 2-1, La
Aguada rode off the field at the end of the first half on top of a 7-3 lead.
La Aguada got serious in the fifth chukker behind the
impressive play of Sapo Caset. La
Aguada scored five times while holding Chapaleufu to a single goal. With three chukkers left to play, La Aguada
led by seven goals, 12-5.
Chapaleufu scored twice in the sixth, but Caset and the La
Aguada offense continued to control the game.
Three more goals pushed the La Aguada lead to seven goals, 15-7, as the
chukker ended.
Disciplined defensive efforts in the seventh chukker kept
the scoring to a minimum. The two teams
traded goals and the chukker ended with a La Aguada lead, 16-8.
Chapaleufu floundered thru the final chukker of play, unable
to execute a successful offensive rally.
La Aguada added three more goals for the 19-8 final.
Sapo Caset led all scoring with 12 goals (two on penalty conversions). Facundo Sola and Miguel Novillo Astrada each
added three goals with Ignacio Novillo Astrada scoring once for the win. Bautista Heguy scored three of his team high
six goals on penalty shots. Francisco
Bensadon and Nachi Heguy each scored single goals in the loss.
Ellerstina 15, Magual
7
In a surprising start, the 33-goal Magual team scored early
as Ellerstina had difficulty establishing a rhythm to their play in the opening
minutes of the game. At the end of the
opening chukker it was Magual in the lead, 2-1.
Ellerstina bounced back in the second, scoring four
consecutive goals. Shutout defense held
Magual scoreless and Ellerstina had moved in front, 4-2.
The two teams traded goals in the third with Magual doing a meritable
job slowing down the talented Ellerstina lineup. Ellerstina held their two goal lead to end
the chukker on top of a 6-4 score.
The defenses continued to dominate in the fourth
chukker. Magual was shutout while
Ellerstina managed just a single goal.
At the end of the first half Ellerstina led by three goals, 7-4.
Ellerstina was coming into their own as the second half
started. Three more fifth chukker goals
had them ahead 10-5. Magual struggled on
offense but managed to score one goal.
Magual stepped up on defense again in the sixth, holding
Ellerstina to a single score. Once
again, however, there was little offense and Magual fell behind by six goals,
11-5.
Ellerstina had shown a great deal of offensive punch in
their 24-13 win over Chapaleufu but didn’t look as intimidating against Magual. The two teams traded goals again in the
seventh chukker. Ellerstina continued to
lead, 12-6.
Three eighth period Ellerstina goals were answered by a
single goal from Magual. Ellerstina
would finish preliminary play with a 2-0 record and would face La Aguada in the
tournament semifinals on Sunday.
Ellerstina’s Facundo Pieres scored seven of his nine goals
from the field. Gonzalito added three
goals while Mariano Aguerre scored twice and Nico Pieres added a goal in the
win. Alejandro Muzzio led Magual with four
goals (two on penalty shots). Ignacio Toccalino
scored twice on penalty conversions and Jaime Huidobro added a goal in the
loss.
The earlier semifinals had already been established with the
defending championship 40-goal La Dolfina team (Adolfo Cambiaso, David
Stirling, Pablo MacDonough and Juan Martin Nero) facing Alegria (Polito Pieres,
Hilario Ulloa, Lucas Monteverde and Frederick Mannix) on Saturday, October 25th. The winners of the semifinal matches are
scheduled to face one another on Saturday, November 1st.