Ellerstina
ekes out a win; La Aguada upset
By
Alex Webbe
Ellerstina cruises into the semifinals next week
following a second consecutive Argentine Open win, but continue to raise
questions of whether or not they are capable of standing up to the powerful La
Dolfina 40-goal team.
This afternoon Ellerstina (2-0) managed to hold off a
talented La Natividad foursome for their second consecutive win and a semifinal
spot next week against La Aguada (1-1), but the going wasn’t easy.
Ellerstina took an early 3-1 lead in the first chukker
and seemed to have things in hand. La
Natividad struggled, and looked to be outclassed in the early going.
Second chukker play had Ellerstina outscoring La
Natividad 3-1. The chukker ended with La
Natividad in front, 6-2.
La Natividad got into rhythm in the third, outscoring
Ellerstina, 4-2. The period ended with
La Natividad cutting the Ellerstina lead to a pair of goals, 8-6.
The emphasis was on defense in the fourth. Each team managed a goal, but there was no
Ellerstina dominance. The first half
ended with Ellerstina up by two goals, 9-7.
Defenses continued to dominate in the second half. La Natividad managed to score the only goal
in the fifth chukker. The powerful
Ellerstina scoring machine was absent.
After five chukkers of play, Ellerstina defended a narrow one goal 9-8
lead.
A reorganized Ellerstina returned to the field in the
sixth period. The defense held, limiting
La Natividad to a single goal, while Ellerstina managed to score three of their
own. With two chukkers left to play
Ellerstina held a three goal, 12-9 edge.
La Natividad turned the tables on the boys in black in
the seventh. Three La Natividad goals
were answered by a single goal from Ellerstina.
With one chukker in regulation time, Ellerstina held a fragile one goal
advantage, 13-12.
The two teams battled back and forth in the eighth
chukker. Ellerstina managed to add three
more goals to their total while La Natividad fell short, losing 16-14.
The victory will put Ellerstina in a showdown with La
Aguada in next week’s competition. A win
will elevate them into the tournament finals.
LA
AGUADA/LAS MONJITAS 12, LA AGUADA 11 OT
In earlier competition, brother faced brother, as La
Aguada/Las Monjitas managed to upset La Aguada 12-11 in overtime for their first
Argentine Open win.
The two teams battled through a scoreless first chukker
and didn’t show much more in the second, with La Aguada scoring the only goal
of the first two chukkers in a 1-0 game.
Two more La Aguada goals in the third were answered by a
single score from La Aguada/Las Monjitas.
At the end of the chukker, La Aguada led by two goals, 3-1.
Sapo Caset scored on a beautifully executed neck shot in
the fourth, but La Aguada/Las Monjitas responded with a single goal to trail
4-2 at the end of the first half.
La Aguada/Las Monjitas got more aggressive in the second
half. The two teams exchanged single
goals, but Magoo Laprida connected on a well-placed shot that cut the La Aguada
lead to a single goal at the end of the chukker, 5-4.
La Aguada was outscored 2-1 in the sixth period. La Aguada was unable to shake the La
Aguada/Las Monjitas defense. The game
was all even at 6-6 at the end of the chukker.
Two more goals from La Aguada were matched by La
Aguada/Las Monjitas in the seventh. It
was all even again, 8-8 going into the final chukker in regulation play.
Three eighth chukker goals from La Aguada were matches by
La Aguada/Las Monjitas. The score was
deadlocked at 11-11 at the end of regulation time.
Alejandro Novillo Astrada scored the winning goal in
overtime to give La Aguada/Las Monjitas the upset 12-11 victory over La Aguada.
Depending on next week’s outcome between Ellerstina and
La Aguada, and the results of the La Aguada/Las Monjitas vs. La Natividad game,
almost anything appears possible.