La Aguada defeats Pilara
By Jorge Andrades
In a sunny afternoon at the Hurlingham Club, La Aguada gained 15-14 against Pilara Piaget to obtain the A zone of the 116th edition of the Hurlingham Open, and gain a place in the final to face Ellerstina Etiqueta Negra next Saturday. The decisive goal was scored by Miguel Novillo Astrada in the start of the supplementary chukker .
In the previous encounter, Alegria which needed triumph to have chances to reach the final, lost 14-13 to Chapa Uno Hope Funds which won their first game in the tournament.
In a flat match, Alegria, well conducted again by “Pite†Merlos, could not repeat their great task against Pilara Piaget last Tuesday and was beaten by Chapa Uno which despite not having played well, managed to decide the game in the last chukker after having been a couple of periods below. Rodrigo Ribeiro de Andrade was the best figure of the winners, while Luke Tomlinson became the top scorer with 7 -5 of them by penalties.
On the contrary, the second match was well played, open and with changes on the lead. La Aguada showed a good team work in the first three chukkers which was reflected in the score, when they were leading 6-5. Then the losers, bolstered by Santiago Chavanne´s hard fighting in the midfield, improved their performance and managed to go 13-10 ahead by the end of the seventh period, when Eduardo Novillo Astrada discounted to leave his team with possibilities.
In the eighth chukker, he scored again two decisive goals while his brother Ignacio put La Aguada ahead with a 60 yards penalty. Pilara tied through a place penalty with just 50 seconds to go and thus they had to play extra time when, as said, Miguel Novillo Astrada with good individual play gave his team the victory.
JUAN MARTIN NERO, OUT OF THE FINAL
The back of Ellerstina received two yellow cards in the match his team defeated La Dolfina last Saturday and was automatically suspended to play the next match against La Aguada. Matias Mac Donough, who is not playing in the high handicap this season, is the most serious candidate to replace Nero.
TEAMS:
La Aguada (15 ): Javier Novillo Astrada 9, Eduardo Novillo Astrada jr 9, Miguel Novillo Astrada 10, Ignacio Novillo Astrada 9. Total, 37
Pilará Piaget (14 ) : Lucas James 7, Santiago Chavanne 8 , Sebastián Merlos 9, Marcos Heguy 10. Total, 34
Chukker scores: La Aguada 3-2,4-4,6-5,8-8,9-10,10-11,11-13,14-14,15-14.
Scorers: La Aguada: Javier Novillo Astrada 2, Eduardo Novillo Astrada jr. 5, Miguel Novillo Astrada 2, Ignacio Novillo Astrada 6-3 pen.Pilará Piaget : Lucas James 1, Santiago Chavanne 5 pen , Sebastián Merlos 4, Marcos Heguy 4-1 pen
Chapa Uno Hope Funds (14 ): Rodrigo Ribeiro de Andrade 8, Hilario Ulloa 8, Bautista Heguy 9, Francisco de Narváez jr. 9. Total, 34
AlegrÃa (13 ): Frederick Mannix jr. 6, Francisco Bensadón 8, Juan I. Merlos 9, Luke Tomlinson 8. Total, 31
Chukker scores: Chapa Uno Hope Funds 2-2,4-3,6-6,7-6,7-8,9-10,11-11,14-13.
Scorers:Chapa Uno Hope Funds: Rodrigo Ribeiro de Andrade 4, Hilario Ulloa 2, Bautista Heguy 3-1 pen, Francisco de Narváez jr. 5-4 pen.AlegrÃa: Frederick Mannix jr. 1, Francisco Bensadón 2, Juan I. Merlos 3, Luke Tomlinson 7-5 pen.