La Dolfina repeats as
Tortugas Open Champion
Buy Alex Webbe
La Dolfina (Adolfo Cambiaso, Pelon Stirling, Pablo
MacDonough and Juan Martin Nero) reinforced their dominance over Ellerstina
(Facundo Pieres in this year’s Tortugas Open in the final of the Tortugas Open
by totally dominating them in a 14-8 victory.
The win is the second in a row for La Dolfina over an
Ellerstina team that had won the previous six tournaments until last year’s
loss. This year’s showdown, however,
looked nothing like the closely contested 16-14 La Dolfina win that was tied at
14-14 in the final chukker.
La Dolfina took immediate control of the game, scoring three
unanswered goals in the opening chukker.
Ellerstina fought to gain control of the ball, but the ball just didn’t
bounce their way in the early goings, and the defensive efforts put forth by La
Dolfina stymied the black-shirted Ellerstina foursome.
Two second chukker goals from Ellerstina got them on the
scoreboard. La Dolfina added a single
goal and continued to lead, 4-2.
The Ellerstina defense held La Dolfina to a single goal in
the third, matching them with a goal of their own. La Dolfina continued to lead, 5-3.
La Dolfina took control of the game again in the
fourth. Three consecutive goals from La Dolfina
had them on top, 8-3. Ellerstina was
held scoreless for the second time in four chukkers and trailed by five goals,
8-3.
Defenses tightened again on both sides in the fifth. Ellerstina’s defense blanked La Dolfina but their
offense managed just a single goal. La Dolfina
took a four goal, 8-4 lead into the sixth as a frustrated Ellerstina attack
continued to look for an answer.
The two teams got some offense going again in the
sixth. Ellerstina scored a pair of goals
but La Dolfina got the edge by scoring three times. With one chukker left in regulation time La
Dolfina boasted a comfortable five goal lead, 11-6.
Three more La Dolfina goals in the seventh buried Ellerstina
who managed just two goals in a very important chukker. The final horn sounded with La Dolfina
celebrating the 14-8 win and the possibility of a repeat of last year’s Triple
Crown sweep.
Adolfo Cambiaso scored seven of his game high eight goals on
penalty conversions. Pablo MacDonough
added four goals and Pelon Stirling scored twice in the win. Juan Martin Nero was held scoreless but was
credited with a superior defensive effort that held the high-scoring Ellerstina
offense to just eight goals. Facundo
Pieres and Mariano Aguerre scored three goals each in the loss. Gonzalito Pieres and Nico Pieres scored
single goals.