Ellerstina swamp La Dolfina to win Hurlingham
By Herbert Spencer
Reigning champions Ellerstina Etiqueta Negra swamped Adolfo Cambiaso’s La Dolfina Peugeot Saturday to win the 117th Hurlingham Open Championship, the second victory for the Pieres brothers’ 40-goal team in Argentina’s 2010 Triple Crown series.
The final score in the final for the venerable Ayrshire Cup was a decisive 19-13, but this hardly reflected the extent of Ellerstina’s shattering defeat of La Dolfina. Ellerstina dominated from the start and were a massive 12 goals ahead at one stage.
La Dolfina’s Cambiaso, rated as the world’s No. One player, did not score a single goal and was awarded a yellow card in the seventh period. By contrast Ellerstina’s Facundo Pieres, the world’s No. Two, scored 12 of his team’s points and was named Most Valuable Player.
Ellerstina set the tone in the first chukka, quickly taking a 2-0 lead. La Dolfina had tied it up by the end of the period, but failed to score in the second as their opponents built up whopping leads chukka by chukka: 7-2 in the second, then 9-3, 11-4, 16-6, 18-8, 19-10. La Dolfina held Ellerstina scoreless in the eighth and final period and won the chukka, but it was too late by then.
Having previously won the Tortugas Open, Ellerstina are on their way to sweep the Triple Crown, but they would again have to beat La Dolfina in the biggest tournament of all, the Argentine Open that starts on 20 November. La Dolfina are the reigning Argentine champions, having defeated Ellerstina 17-16 in extra time last year.