La Dolfina Perseveres in Victory Over La Albertina
The sixth day of play in the 2018 Hurlingham Open saw Cria Yatay display a strong performance in 16-9 victory over La Canada Angiocor-DRF, while La Albertina produced a valiant effort but eventually were defeated by 40-goal La Dolfina 13-8 at Hurlingham Polo Club.
The opening game of the day saw Cria Yatay pressure the La Canada defence throughout the game, receiving nine penalty attempts to anchor their attack, while La Canada received ten penalty attempts of their own but converted just 30% of the attempts in the loss. Early in the game, the two teams appeared evenly matched, trading goals over the opening two chukkas, until a third chukka that saw La Canada commit five fouls. Joaquin Pittaluga converted both attempts from the penalty line, while Valerio Zubiaurre added a goal from the field to give Cria Yatay the four-goal advantage. La Canada’s Jared Zenni converted two penalty attempts of his own in the fourth chukka but the deficit remained with Cria Yatay holding the four-goal lead at halftime.
Both teams better avoided the whistle early in the second half, with Cria Yatay managing their lead and producing a strong defensive effort that held La Canada to just 2 for 5 from the field over the fifth and sixth chukkas. Looking to make a late comeback, La Canada generated four penalty opportunities in the final chukka but converted just one of the four attempts to prevent them from closing the deficit. Pittaluga scored all four Cria Yatay goals in the final chukka, bringing his goal total to 10 in the game and leading his team to the 16-9 victory.
The second game of the day saw La Albertina up for the challenge of facing the quartet of 10-goalers on La Dolfina, as they remained within one goal throughout most of the game. Entering the game conceding nine goals by handicap, La Albertina kept pace with La Dolfina with strong backhands and an accurate passing attack that created an efficient counter attack. La Dolfina quickly grabbed a 2-0 lead, with Adolfo Cambiaso setting up the first goal and converting a penalty 4, but La Albertina was able to respond, as they baited La Dolfina into two fouls resulting in two penalty conversions for Alfredo Cappella. The dominant second chukka that saw La Albertina score four goals on perfect 3 for 3 shooting from the field and converting their lone penalty attempt, showed La Albertina they can match the elite play of La Dolfina. Claiming a one goal lead by the end of the half, La Dolfina were unable to extend their lead further due to inaccurate 4 for 14 shooting from the field, including uncharacteristic misses within 30 yards that gave La Albertina hope heading into the second half.
La Dolfina continued to heavily outshoot La Albertina, but along with two missed penalty attempts in the fourth and fifth chukka, the inaccuracy of La Dolfina continued to allow a La Albertina team that made the most of their limited opportunities. Cappella’s fifth goal of the game in the sixth chukka kept La Albertina within two goals as the potent La Dolfina attack was beginning to find their stride. Moving forward in the game, Cambiaso led the offensive attack, scoring three unanswered goals, including back-to-back runs in the seventh chukka to extend La Dolfina’s lead to four. Behind a dominant performance on throw-ins, winning 16 of 22, La Dolfina were able to overcome their 10 for 23 shooting in the game to complete the 13-8 victory and remain undefeated in the Triple Crown.