La Dolfina handles
Ellerstina in an 18-16 Hurlingham Open title win
By Alex Webbe
La Dolfina (Adolfo Cambiaso, Pelon Stirling, Pablo
MacDonough and Juan Martin Nero) won a penalty-riddled Hurlingham Open over
Ellerstina (Facundo Pieres, Gonzalito Pieres, Mariano Aguerre and Nico Pieres) Saturday
afternoon in an 18-16 victory to move one step closer to sweeping the 2013
high-goals season in Argentina.
La Dolfina beat Ellerstina last month to capture the
Tortugas Open and win the first leg of Argentina’s Triple Crown of polo,
handing Ellerstina their first defeat at Tortugas in seven years.
Facundo Pieres scored the first goal of the game on a
60-yard penalty shot for the early 1-0 lead.
Pelon Stirling scored on a 20-yard pass from Adolfo Cambiaso to tie it
up at 1-1. Facundo Pieres closed out the
scoring in the opening chukker with a 75-yard shot that carried through the La
Dolfina goalposts and a five yard penalty goal for a 3-1 advantage.
Nico Pieres gave Ellerstina a three goal lead, 4-1, on a three-yard
tap in less than two minutes into the second period. Juan Martin Nero responded with a goal less
than a minute later, 4-2, and Cambiaso added two penalty goals to lock it up at
4-4. Facundo Pieres shot at the La Dolfina
goal and hit the goalpost with a minute left in the chukker. Mariano Aguerre tapped it in for the 5-4
Ellerstina lead.
Pablo MacDonough followed up a run by Cambiaso, and scored
for a 5-5 tie early in the third chukker.
Cambiaso gave La Dolfina a 7-5 lead with a pair of penalty conversions. Facundo Pieres responded with two penalty
goals of his own, and it was all even once again at 7-7.
Goals were scarce on the fourth. Cambiaso converted a 30-yard penalty shot
just three minutes into the period and followed it up with a 50-yard neck-shot
two minutes later. Ellerstina was held
scoreless and trailed 9-7 at the end of the first half.
Cambiaso scored the first goal of the second half, driving
the ball 150 yards down the field on three shots for a goal, 10-7. A La Dolfina foul sent Facundo Pieres to the
penalty line where he converted a 60-yard penalty shot for a goal, 10-8. Aguerre sliced a neck-shot through the La Dolfina
goalposts to cut the lead to a single goal, 10-9, with two minutes left in the chukker. Cambiaso scored on a 40-yard penalty shot,
11-9, and Nico Pieres took the ensuing throw-in and raced down the field to
score the final goal of the chukker.
After five chukkers the La Dolfina stood at only one goal, 11-10.
MacDonough scored his second goal of the game to open the
sixth period, 12-10. Cambiaso added two
more to extend the La Dolfina lead to four goals, 14-10. A La Dolfina foul got Ellerstina on the
scoreboard in the final minute of play with Facundo Pieres converting a 60-yard
shot. The La Dolfina lead stood at three
goals, 14-11 with two chukkers left in regulation time.
An Ellerstina foul in their own goalmouth allowed La Dolfina
to go up by four goals once again as Cambiaso converted the two-yard tap in,
15-11. Ellerstina rallied with three
consecutive goals. Facundo Pieres scored
on three penalty shots. The La Dolfina lead
had been cut to a single goal, 15-14, going into the final chukker, and it
appeared that Ellerstina had built up some momentum.
In one swift play, the Ellerstina rally was halted. Stirling scored the goal of the game when at
full speed he hit the knee-high ball out of the air and drove it through the
goalposts on a neck shot from some 60-yards out, 16-14. Cambiaso ran it up to 17-14 on a penalty shot
and Stirling followed up a 200-yard run by Cambiaso by driving it through for
an 18-14 advantage with two minutes left to play. Facundo scored on a 30-yard penalty shot and
Gonzalito Pieres added a 22-yard ground ball, but the last two goals were insignificant
and it was La Dolfina that was celebrating the 18-16 win when the final bell
sounded.
Cambiaso led all scoring with twelve goals (seven on penalty
shots. Stirling added three. MacDonough scored twice and Nero added a goal
for the win. Facundo Pieres led the
Ellerstina attack with a team high eleven goals, ten on penalty
conversions. Nico Pieres and Aguerre
scored two goals each with Gonzalito Pieres adding a single goal in the loss.
The win puts La Dolfina on track for a run at the Triple Crown
of polo with action in the Argentine Open scheduled to get underway next
week. Ellerstina is slated to play in the
opening game of the tournament with a Saturday, November 16th game
against Chapaleufu. La Dolfina will get
started with a Sunday, November 17th game against Magual. The finals of the Argentine Open are set for
Saturday, December 7th, with the possibility of the two 39-goal
teams meeting once again.