Ellerstina
scores last second goal to defeat La Dolfina and win Tortugas
By Alex Webbe
La Dolfina looked
like the juggernaut on the field that everyone anticipated when Adolfo Cambiaso
gathered together Pelon Stirling, Juan Martin Nero and Pablo MacDonough for a
run at the 2011 high-goal season, taking an early 2-1 lead before galloping off
to a 6-1 advantage after the first two chukkers of play.
The game
leveled out in the third, with each team scoring a pair of goals, but it was La
Dolfina that held on to a dominant five goal, 8-3, lead after three chukkers of play.
A
low-scoring fourth chukker ended with each team notching a single goal. La Dolfina looked unbeatable as the 39-goal
team left the field with a 9-4 lead.
Cambiaso
opened the fifth chukker with a penalty goal and added another off of the
ensuing throw-in, stretching the La Dolfina lead to seven goals, 11-4, before Ellerstina
was heard from.
Nachi Heguy
was on the receiving end of a pass from teammate Facundo Pieres and scored from
the nearside, 11-5. MacDonough got the
goal right back, restoring the seven goal lead, 12-5.
Facundo
Pieres had an opportunity to add another goal on a penalty shot, but Stirling
rode through the goal posts and blocked the shot. Ellerstina fought back, however, with Nicolas
Pieres scoring his third goal of the game and ending the fifth period with a
six goal, 12-6 deficit.
“They’ve (Ellerstina)
got to control the ball, control the man,†offered 10-goaler Miguel Novillo
Astrada, and it appears that is exactly what Ellerstina did late in the game.
Facundo
Pieres converted a penalty shot for a goal to open the sixth chukker followed
by a goal from the field from Gonzalito Pieres.
Veteran 9-goaler Nachi Heguy carried the ball nearly the length of the
field before scoring Ellerstina’s third straight goal of the chukker, cutting
the ball into the goal from the end line.
Gonzalito
Pieres scored his second goal of the period followed by another penalty goal
from Facundo, and the La Dolfina lead was cut to a single goal, 12-11. Nero was fouled in the waning seconds of the
chukker, allowing Cambiaso to get La Dolfina on the scoreboard on a penalty
shot. With one chukker left to play, La Dolfina
guarded an unsteady 13-11 lead with a surging Ellerstina attack.
As well as
the Ellerstina attack performed in the sixth chukker, its defense was up to the
task as well. La Dolfina players found
their plays checked and on the receiving end of bone-jarring ride-offs. Desperate efforts to stem the tide weren’t
the answer either.
Consecutive
penalties saw Facundo Pieres convert consecutive goals that knotted it up at 13-13
with time running out. Just when it
looked as if the match was headed for overtime, Gonzalito Pieres took control
of the ball. Teammates Heguy and
Nicholas Pieres each rode off opposing players, allowing Gonzalito the shooting
lane he needed. With less than five
seconds left, Gonzalito drove the ball through the goalposts for the winning
goal and the 2011 Tortugas Open Championship.
A sign of
thing to come? It’s too early to tell,
but the idea of La Dolfina rolling over all comers for the coming years has
been soundly discounted.
As for the
new Ellerstina lineup, new member Nico Pieres and wily veteran Nachi Heguy may
be just what 10-goalers Facundo and Gonzalito need to carry them through the
fall campaign.