La Dolfina
cruises past La Aguada-will face Ellerstina in finals
By
Alex Webbe
La Dolfina (Adolfo Cambiaso, Pelon Stirling, Pablo
MacDonough and Juan Martin Nero) made it look easy Sunday afternoon at the
Tortugas Country Club in Buenos Aires as they ran over a 36-goal La Aguada
(Sapo Caset, Javier Novillo Astrada, Miguel Novillo Astrada and Ignacio (Nacho)
Novillo Astrada) foursome, 16-9. The
victory will boost La Dolfina into the finals of the Tortugas Open on Wednesday
against defending champion, Ellerstina.
Pablo MacDonough scored the first goal of the game for
the 1-0 lead, but Miguel Novillo Astrada responded with a goal to make it
1-1. Pelon Stirling and MacDonough
scored single goals followed by a pair of penalty conversions from Adolfo
Cambiaso and the first chukker ended with La Dolfina holding a commanding 5-1
advantage.
Defense was the name of the game in the second chukker as
drive after drive was turned aside.
After seven minutes of play the score remained unchained with La Aguada
trailing by four goals, 5-1.
Javier Novillo Astrada opened the scoring in the third
period followed by a goal from Cambiaso at the four minute mark. Miguel Novillo Astrada cut the lead to three
goals, 6-3, with his second goal of the game, but MacDonough scored the final
goal of the chukker for a 7-3 La Dolfina lead.
MacDonough capped off a beautiful drive down the field
with his fourth goal of the game, and a minute later scored again to give La
Dolfina a 9-3 edge. La Aguada had a
60-yard penalty shot blocked before Sapo Caset made good on another 60-yarder
for a 9-4 score. La Dolfina continued to
play very smoothly and effectively while La Aguada struggled.
MacDonough made it 10-4 with the opening goal of the
fifth chukker, but consecutive penalty conversions from Caset cut the lead back
to four goals, 10-6. A final goal from
La Dolfina had La Aguada staring at an 11-6 deficit with two chukkers left in
the game.
La Dolfina stretched the lead to seven goals in the
sixth, outscoring an anemic La Aguada offense, 3-1. With one period left, La Dolfina was riding a
seven goal lead, 14-7.
Nero and MacDonough scored consecutive goals for a 16-7
lead in the seventh before the La Dolfina team eased up. La Aguada scored two meaningless goals to end
the game with La Dolfina taking home a 16-9 win and a date with Ellerstina in
Wednesday’s finals of the 2012 Tortugas Open finals.