Ellerstina win Tortugas Open
By Jorge Andrades
In a mediocre match played at the Tortugas Country Club, 40 kms north of Buenos Aires, Ellerstina Etiqueta Negra outclassed Pilara Piaget 14-11 to retain the Tortugas Open title they had won last year.
Pilara surprised the winners in the first chukker, showing superior mental speed to beat them 3-0 through two goals scored by Chavanne and one by Merlos. But their leadership did not last too much as Ellerstina came from behind to put 4-3 ahead in the second period, taking advantage of a couple of fouls committed by the losers which were scored by Facundo Pieres. Number one shirt by the winners was the top scorer of the match with 10, 6 of them by penalties and a corner .
The following three chukkers were poor and flat, with both teams playing nervously and the actions continuously stopped by whistles as a result of fouls. Despite of that, the squads went goal-to-goal, capturing the interest of the thousands of spectators who did not know which of them should win, as they were not able to take the definitive control of the match and enhance the difference in the score. A proof of that was the fact that by the end of the fifth game Ellerstina was leading 9-8, with just three field goals.
When the sixth period started two errors in defense by the losers were transformed in goals through penalties by Facundo Pieres and it was then when the Champions started to build they deserved victory, dominating the actions and demonstrating their powerful horses up to the final bell.
Nevertheless, Pilara did never abandon the fight and despite having missed Agustin Merlos´, basically in scoring penalties –Chavanne could not score any 60 yards he hit- they showed a good image, led by the veteran but always great player Marcos Heguy. Merlos was sent off and suspended by a month, thus he will not play the Hurlingham Open.
“We started playing bad, as happened last year against La Aguada when we were also losing 0-3 in the first chukkerâ€- admitted the figure of the encounter, Facundo Pieres. Then continued saying that “from the start of the second period we knew we had to play well to confirm our superiority and to avoid our rivals gain in confidence because they are a great team. Fortunately we managed to do it and, by the end of the match, we could show our best play, with speed and team work. That is a good signal to face trusted the rest of the season.â€
TEAMS
Ellerstina Etiqueta Negra (14): Facundo Pieres 10, Gonzalo Pieres jr. 10, Pablo Mac Donough 10, Juan MartÃn Nero 10. Total 40.
Pilará Piaget (11): Lucas James 7, Santiago Chavanne 8, Sebastián Merlos 9, Marcos Heguy 10. Total: 34.
Chukker scores: Ellerstina 0-3,4-3,6-6,7-7,9-8,12-9,14-11 .
Scorers: Ellerstina Facundo Pieres 10 (6 pen-1 corner), Gonzalo Pieres jr. 2, Juan MartÃn Nero 2 .
Pilara Piaget: Santiago Chavanne 6-3 pen, Sebastián Merlos 3, Marcos Heguy 2.