La Dofina peugeot outclassed Pilara Piaget 17-13 to reach the final of the 115th Moviestar Argentine Open before a crowd of 16,000 spectators on a sunny afternoon at the Palermo fields yesterday.
The Result means La Dofina stay on course for their fourth title in a row. They will face the winner of today’s match between Ellerstina and Black Watch in next Saturday’s final.
Showing speed, good play and excellent mounts, La Dolfina Peugeot gained revenge for their 16-15 defeat against Pilara Piaget in the semi-final of the Hurlingham Open and, after an unimpressive season, installed themselves as favourites to obtain the title again.
As expected, the cation was open and even from the start, with Pilara taking a 2-1 lead in the first Chukker´. But La Dolfina immediately raised their game to take a 4-3 advantage in the next period, thanks to three field goals scored by Mariano Aguerre, Bartolome Castagnola and Adolfo Cambiaso.
Pilara reacted again in the third Chukker and managed to equalize at 5-5. However the fourth period decided the game as Cambiaso, mounted on one of his best horses, Bruma, led his teammates to win it 5-2 and take a decisive three-goal lead which gave them the necessary belief to take into the second half.
The losers didn’t play badly in his Chukker, but they committed some defensive errors which cost them dearly. They also started to have problems controlling Cambiaso, who yesterday played one of his best matches in recent times, not only scoring excellent goals but also creating the best attacking opportunities for his team. He finished as the top scorer of the match with 12 goals La Dolfina’s number one jersey, who seemed to be unstoppable, demonstrated once again that playing in Palermo inspires him.
Pilara Piaget never abandoned the fight and, bolstered by Agustin Merlos goals, – he scored 10- they managed to keep the scoreline close. However their efforts were not enough to stop the superior play of their opponents.
Pilara’s Marcos Heguy had a great second half and Santiago Chavanne fought hard in the midfield, but he was overrun by Lucas Monteverde and Mariano Aguerre, who did their best to allow Cambiaso to dominate possession.
The winners demonstrated just why they are the defending champions and have perfect handicap, winning the decisive match with a great performance which will have them going into the final as favourites.
Surrounded by spectators who wanted to have their picture taken with him, Lucas Monteverde said he did not like the way they played the first three chukkers: “We seemed to be asleep. We could not play to the best of our abilities. Only in the fourth period did we start to build our victory, but despite the fact we won it 5-2 we never abandoned the fight, as we had a great team in front of us. I felt the triumph when ‘Adolfto’ scored our 16th goal, but in the second half we played really well and I knew it would be very difficult for Pilara to beat us.”
Nearby was mariano Aguerre, who was very happy. “Fortunately we finished the game without any horses injured. We are close to our fourth title and I can say we have done everything well up to now. I think that Ellerstina will defeat Black Watch, so we will face them for a third time in the last four years…it will be a great match, ” he said.
TEAMS, goals in brackets and Chukker scores:
LA Dolfina Peugeot (17): Adolfo Cambiaso 10 (12-4), Lucas Monteverde 10, Mariano Aguerre 10 (2), Bartolome Castagnola 10 (3) – 40.
Pilara Piaget (13): Agustin Merlos 10 (10-5 pen), Santiago Chauvanne 8, Sebastian Merlos 9, booked (1), Marcos Heguy 10 (2) – 37.
Chukker scores: La Dolfina Peugeot 1-2, 4-3, 5-5, 10-7, 11-8, 14-10, 15-12, 17-13.