La Dolfinaspanks Pilara Piaget 17-9 in Hurlingham Open play
By Alex Webbe
After asluggish first chukker that gave La Dolfina an early 2-1 lead La Dolfina madeshort work of Pilara Piaget (1-2) in a 17-9 rout in Hurlingham Open play. The victory gives La Dolfina a 3-0 zonerecord and boosts them into next week’s finals.
It was fourminutes into the game before Adolfo Cambiaso converted a penalty shot to giveLa Dolfina a 1-0 lead; and less than a minute-and-a-half later that Pablo MacDonoughmade it 2-0. Luke Tomlinson closed outthe scoring with a goal from the field. Pilara Piaget left the field trailing, 2-1.
The secondchukker began with Cambiaso missing on a penalty shot, a miscue that he made upfor two minutes later when he scored to put La Dolfina up 3-1. Pilara Piaget committed a safety in an effortto defend against another La Dolfina attack, with Cambiaso converting thepenalty shot for a goal. Magoo Lapridatook advantage of a Luke Tomlinson penalty shot that was blocked and drove itthrough the goal posts, but Pilara Piaget continued to trail, 4-2. Another foul returned Cambiaso to the penaltyline where Pelon Stirling scored on Cambiaso’s deflected shot at goal, andPablo MacDonough took the following throw-in down the field for his second goalof the game and a 6-2 La Dolfina lead.
Just thirtyseconds into the third chukker MacDonough scored his third goal on the day,carrying it nearly the length of the field for the score. Bautista Heguy stopped the bleeding forPilara Piaget with his first goal of the game. Laprida cut the La Dolfina lead to three goals when he found himself onthe receiving end of a 130 yard penalty shot from Luke Tomlinson. At the six minute mark, Juan Martin Neroscored a final goal for La Dolfina for a four goal, 8-4 advantage.
Two goals byMacDonough in the first 1:19 of the fourth chukker had La Dolfina up by sixgoals, 10-4 before Hilario Ulloa scored for Pilara Piaget. Nero and Stirling closed out the scoring withsingle goals and La Dolfina took a 12-7 lead to the sidelines with them at theend of the first half of play.
Both teamsstruggled to control the ball as the second half began. It was nearly two minutes into the periodbefore Cambiaso got off the first shot at goal—an effort that went wide. At the 5:55 mark Ulloa added his second goalof the day to close out the scoring with La Dolfina leading 12-6.
Heguy’spenalty shot in the opening minute of the sixth chukker was blocked but Ulloabacked it through the goal posts for a Pilara Piaget score. Nero and Cambiaso added single goals and thechukker ended with La Dolfina on top of a 14-7 score.
Cambiasoconverted another penalty shot for a goal to open the seventh as a determinedPilara Piaget pressed the attack. Goalsfrom Laprida and Ulloa pumped some energy into the Pilara Piaget lineup, but ablocked penalty shot at goal was followed by a goal from Stirling as thechukker ended with La Dolfina ahead by seven goals, 16-9.
MacDonoughscored his sixth goal of the match in the first 39 seconds of the final period fora 17-9 lead, with Pilara Piaget flailing at the ball in an effort to show someburst of offense before the final bell sounded. Following a missed penalty shot by Tomlinson, Cambiaso made a final runat the Pilara Piaget goal where the last shot of the game went just wide. Reflecting on the 17-9 win, La Dolfina wouldnow wait for the results of Sunday’s showdown between La Aguada (2-0) andEllerstina (2-0) to see who they would play in the 2011 Hurlingham Open finals.
MacDonoughled all scoring with six goals. Cambiasoscored five times with Nero and Stirling adding three goals apiece in the win.
Ulloa setthe pace for Pilara Piaget with four goals. Laprida scored three goals and Heguy and Tomlinson added single goals.
The powerthat La Dolfina has displayed in zone play has them scoring an average of 20goals per game, beating their opponents by an average of ten goals whileamassing an impressive 30 net goals in its three games. Regardless of its opponent, the 2011Hurlingham Open final is sure to be a high-scoring event.
ESTANCIA GRANDE 19, CHAPA UNO 16
In earlieraction Estancia Grande downed Chapa Uno 19-16 after a competitive first halfthat began with a 1-1 first chukker. Thewin was the first for the 36-goal team in three games and leaves them with adisappointing 1-2 record. The Chapa Unoloss was its second against only one win, with a net goals recorded of -14goals.
The veteranson the Estancia Grande team managed to hold on to single goal leads through thesecond (4-3), third (7-6) and fourth (8-7) chukkers while Chapa Uno continuedto take control of the game.
Fourunanswered goals and shutout defense in the fifth period gave Estancia Grande a12-7 lead that would carry them through the game.
Chapa Unocame up with four goals in the sixth chukker while holding Estancia Grande tojust a pair, but 14-13 would be about as close as they would get.
EstanciaGrande took an 18-14 lead into the final chukker before galloping off with the19-16 victory.
AgustinMerlos scored twelve goals, with nine of them coming on penalty shots. Lolo Castagnola scored four times; LucasMonteverde added two goals and Sebastian Merlos accounted for a single goal forEstancia Grande.
Sapo Casetscored nine goals (three on penalty shots) for Chapa Uno. Rodrigo Andrade and Pablo Pieres each scoredthree times and Jaime Huidobro converted a penalty shot for a score.
HurlinghamOpen play will continue on Sunday, October 30 with Chapa II (0-2) playingAlegria (0-2) at 2PM followed by a 4:30PM contest between La Aguada (2-0) anddefending champion Ellerstina (2-0). Thewinner of the La Aguada vs. Ellerstina match will meet La Dolfina (3-0) in thefinals on Saturday, November 5 at 4:30PM.