Ellerstina comes back to beat La Aguada, earn final berth
By Alex Webbe
The growing parity in top flight Argentine polo teams was
recently illustrated in a Hurlingham Open semifinal in which the 40-goal La Dolfina
team (Adolfo Cambiaso, David Stirling, Pablo MacDonough and Juan Martin Nero) trailed
a talented Alegria team (Polito Pieres, Hilario Ulloa, Lucas Monteverde and
Frederick Mannix) several times in the course of the game before clocking a
13-12 win.
The second finalist was Ellerstina (Facundo Pieres, Gonzalo
Pieres Jr., Mariano Aguerre and Nicolas Pieres), who struggled to defeat La
Aguada (Facundo Sola, Guillermo Caset Jr., Miguel Novillo Astrada and Ignacio
Novillo Astrada) Sunday afternoon in a 14-12 game that went back and forth
before a late second half rally secured the Ellerstina win.
For years Ellerstina and La Dolfina had dominated the
Argentine polo scene without a serious challenger in site, but a couple of
well-mounted challengers have earned some respect for the efforts that were
recently displayed in Hurlingham Open semifinal action.
Ellerstina and La Aguada matched one another goal for goal
in the opening chukker for a 2-2 finish.
Second period play saw La Aguada outscore Ellerstina
2-1. At the end of the second chukker
Ellerstina trailed, 4-3.
Ellerstina ted it up at 4-4 in the third, picking up just a
single goal from their offense but experiencing shutout defense.
La Aguada returned to the field for the fourth chukker
revitalized. La Aguada scored three
times while holding Ellerstina to a single score. The firt half ended with La Aguada on top,
7-5.
Ellerstina turned the tables on La Aguada in the fifth
period. La Aguada scored once while
Ellerstina added three goals to their total.
After five chukkers of action the score was even at 8-8.
Ellerstina finally took the lead back in the sixth as they
moved ahead of La Aguada, 11-10. Two
more Ellerstina goals went unanswered in the seventh as Ellerstina went up by
three goals, 13-10.
La Aguada tried to make a last chukker run, but Ellerstina
was ready. La Aguada scored twice while Ellerstina
was held to a single goal. The final
horn sounded with Ellerstina celebrating the 14-12 victory.
In spite of being hit in the mouth with the ball, La Aguada’s
Sapo Caset scored a game-high nine goals.
Miguel Novillo Astrada scored twice while Facundo Sola was credited with
a goal in a losing effort. Facundo
Pieres scored nine times in the victory.
Gonzalito Pieres scored four times late in the game for the win. Nico Pieres added two penalty goals while the
ageless Mariano Aguerre added a goal for the win.
Magual 16, Chapaleufu
15
Earlier in the day Magual (Alejandro Muzzio, Ignacio
Toccalino, Marcos Di Paola and Jaime Garcia Huidobro) inched past Chapaleufu
(Pepe Heguy, Nachi Heguy, Bautista Heguy and Eduardo Heguy), 16-15 as they
showcased an all Heguy team.
Magual took control early and ran out to an early 3-2
lead. It was 4-4 at the end of the first
half before Magual took advantage of a shocked Ellerstina team to move in front
by two goals, 7-5. Chapaleufu outscored
Magual in the fourth and ended the first half on top of an 8-7 score.
Magual continued to press, stretching the lead to 11-8 after
the fifth and 13-9 after the sixth.
Chapaleufu cut the lead back down to three goals after the seventh,
14-11 before a late rally brought them to within a goal of the lead, 16-15.
Alejandro Muzzio led the Magual team with seven goals (four
on penalty shots). Francisco Elizalde added
five goals from the field with Marcos Di Paola and Jaime Huidobro scoring two goals
each. Eduardo Heguy scored four of his
six goals on penalties. Bautista Heguy added
four goals; Pepe Heguy scored three times; and Nachi Heguy added two.