Ellerstina wins big, will face La Dolfina in the Hurlingham Open finals
By Alex Webbe
Both Ellerstina and La Natividad were keyed up for the final preliminary match of the Hurlingham Open today, knowing that the outcome of the game would result in the second tournament finalist. Three goals aside set an early tone and made it quite clear that both La Natividad and Ellerstina were serious about the match.
Ellerstina began to develop the rhythm that had eluded it in the La Aguada match and outscored La Natividad 3-1 in the second period. At the end of two, Ellerstina held a 6-4 advantage.
The momentum continued to grow for Ellerstina in thethird, but La Natividad refused to fold. Three Ellerstina goals were answered by two goals from La Natividad. Ellerstina had slowly extended its lead to three goals, 9-6.
By the fourth chukker Ellerstina was playing their game. Five more goals went up on the scoreboard for them while La Natividad struggled to stay in the competition with a pair of goals. At the end of the first half Ellerstina carried a six goal advantage, 14-8.
Ellerstina scored two more goals in the fifth whilelimiting the La Natividad attack to a single goal. The Ellerstina lead had grown to seven goals,16-9, with three chukkers left to play.
If there were any doubts about the talent of theEllerstina players, their play throughout the first six chukkers of play shouldhave laid them to rest. Ellerstinaracked up two more goals in the sixth period. La Natividad managed a single score and. The magical number of goalsEllerstina needed to win by to move into Saturday’s finals were in hand,plus. At the end of the sixth chukkerEllerstina was on the winning end of an 18-9 score. Ellerstina needed to win by eight goals andwere already ahead by nine.
By the seventh chukker Ellerstina was running on alleight cylinders as they scored goal after goal. At the end of the period Ellerstina had added three more goals whilegiving up a pair to La Natividad. Ellerstina had met and surpassed the number of goals by which theyneeded to win, 21-11, but would have to hold the lead if they had any hopes ofmeeting La Dolfina in the finals of the tournament on Saturday.
There was plenty of fight in the two teams for the finalchukker of play with each team notching a couple of goals for the 23-13Ellerstina victory and a berth in the finals of the 2012 Hurlingham Open!
LaAguada 15, La Aguada/Las Monjitas 14
In earlier action La Aguada managed to slip past LaAguada/Las Monjitas by a 15-14 score, but in spite of the heroics of the LaAguada team it was the Ellerstina-La Natividad outcome that decided their fate.
Although La Aguada had defeated Ellerstina, La Natividadhad beaten La Aguada and was the only team in their bracket with a perfect 2-0record.
La Aguada didn’t have an easy time of topping LaAguada/Las Monjitas in spite of an early 8-5 halftime lead, and barely managedto hold on for the 15-14 one goal win.
In spite of the Ellerstina win, La Aguada had established itself as one of the elite teams of the season and a threat to any contender.