Ellerstina handles Magual, 17-12; La
Natividad wins in OT
By Alex Webbe
Ellerstina/Piaget
(Facundo Pieres, Gonzalito Pieres, Mariano Aguerre and Nicolás Pieres) looked
to be recovering from their Tortugas Open final loss as they charged out to a
3-0 lead over Magual (Alejandro Muzzio, Ignacio Toccalino, Marcos Di Paola and Jaime
Huidobro) in the first chukker of Hurlingham Open at the Hurlingham Club in
Buenos Aires, but not all is as it seems.
Magual steadied themselves in the second chukker as the two
teams exchanged single goals. Ellerstina
continued to lead, but Magual appeared to be settling into a rhythm. Ellerstina left the field after the second
period on top of a 4-1 score.
The third chukker belonged to an aggressive Magual
foursome. Magual scored four unanswered
goals and move in front of the powerful Ellerstina team, 5-4.
The two teams fought to a 3-3 draw in the fourth period,
with neither taking control of the flow of the game. At the end of the first half Magual held a
surprising 8-7 lead.
Defenses were rigid in the fifth chukker. Single goals were scored by each team as Magual
defended a narrow one goal lead, 10-9.
A refocused Ellerstina took the field in the sixth period
and scored three straight goals. Three minutes into the chukker Nico Pieres suffered an injury to his riding muscle and was replaced by Paco de Narvaez. Magual
was unable to respond and fell behind, 12-10.
Three more Ellerstina goals in the seventh were offset by
two goals from Magual. Ellerstina
continued to expand its lead, 15-12.
Shutout defense by Ellerstina in the final chukker kept
Magual scoreless. Two more Ellerstina
ended the match with Ellerstina riding off with the 17-12 victory.
Facundo Pieres led all scoring with nine goals (six on
penalty conversions). Gonzalito Pieres
scored four timed with Nico Pieres adding a pair of goals to the total and
Mariano Aguerre scoring once in the win.
Alejandro Muzzio led the Magual attack with five goals. Jaime Huidobro scored three times and Ignacio
Toccalino and Marcos De Paola scored two goals apiece in the loss.
LA NATIVIDAD 14, LA
AGUADA/LAS MONJITAS 13 OT
La Natividad
(Sapo Caset, Nachi Heguy, Rodrigo Andrade and Lolo Castagnola) trailed in six
of the regulation eight chukkers but managed a late game rally to tie it up at
13-13 in the eighth and score the winning goal in overtime to beat La Aguada/Las Monjitas (Agustin Merlos,
Magoo Laprida, Eduardo Novillo Astrada, Alejandro Novillo Astrada) 14-13 as
Hurlingham Open play continued.
La Aguada/Las
Monjitas took an early 2-1 lead after the first chukker before La Natividad
exposed its offensive capabilities in the second. Three goals went unanswered as La Natividad
leap-frogged past La Aguada/Las Monjitas, 4-2.
La Aguada/Las
Monjitas scored three times in the third while holding La Natividad
scoreless. La Natividad found themselves
trailing by a goal, 5-4 at the end of the third chukker.
The two teams
exchanged goals in the fourth period.
Each side scored twice with La Aguada/Las Monjitas maintaining the one
goal advantage, 7-6.
Goals were no easier
to come by in the second half with each team having to settle for a single goal
in the fifth. La Aguada/Las Monjitas
remained in front, 8-7.
The La Aguada/Las
Monjitas offense erupted for three goals in the sixth chukker while limiting La
Natividad to a single goal. With two
chukkers left in regulation time La Aguada/Las Monjitas was in front by three
goals, 11-8.
La Aguada/Las Monjitas stretched their lead to
four goals in the seventh period. La
Natividad could only produce a single goal in the chukker while La Aguada/Las
Monjitas scored twice and led by four goals, 13-9.
A determined La
Natividad team took the field in the eighth period, making a statement by
scoring four consecutive goals while holding La Aguada/Las Monjitas
scoreless. The chukker ended in a tie
and both teams retired to the sidelines to prepare for the sudden-death
overtime period to decide the winner.
The overtime period
was short-lived with Sapo Caset scoring the winning goal for the 14-13 victory.
Sapo Caset led the field
with nine goals (seven on penalty shots).
Rodrigo Andrade was credited with three goals. Nachi Heguy and Lolo Castagnola scored single
goals in the win. Lucas James and Negro
Astrada scored four goals apiece for La Aguada/Las Monjitas. Eduardo Novillo Astrada added three goals and
Magoo Laprida scored twice in a losing effort.