Ellerstina Etiqueta Negra outclassed Chapa Uno
By Jorge Andrades
In a sunny afternoon in Tortuguitas, Ellerstina Etiqueta Negra outclassed Chapa Uno Hope Funds 16-12 in the decisive encounter for the A zone of the Tortugas Open. With their victory, last Argentine Open Champions gained a place in the final of the first tournament of the argentine Triple Crown.
The winners started playing in a convincing form, showing their speedy horses and good combinations to finish the second chukker 3 goals ahead (5-2). On the other side, Chapa Uno could not find their rhythm and were far from the excellent performance they had shown against La Aguada in the previous game. Nevertheless, bolstered by a great work by Hilario Ulloa who never gave fighting in the midfield, the losers came from behind in the third period to put just one goal behind (5-6). Then Ellerstina increased again their work and with some individual appearances –basically by Facundo Pieres in attack-, they took again a 3 goals leading margin which gave them the necessary confidence to dominate the actions and the score up to the final bell. Juan Martin Nero was their best man, not only annulling Brazilian Ribeiro de Andrade in attack, but also going forward very frequently to score superb goals as he did in the sixth period when he scored 3.
The back of the winners said after the match: “We did not play as good as we were able to. During some passages we lacked of concentration and were disconnected. But despite of that, we managed to beat Chapa Uno to reach the final of the Championship as we did a year ago. We hope to increase our performance because we will surely need it if we want to retain the title.â€
Meanwhile, the other back, Francisco de Narvaez jr. was worried as a result of their mediocre work. He admitted that “we played really bad the first two chukkers. I cannot explain that, but our rivals were faster than us and we could not control them. Then we fought hard and narrowed the gap, but our team was far from what we did in San Isidro and Tortugas this season.â€
TEAMS
Ellerstina Etiqueta Negra (16): Facundo Pieres 10, Gonzalo Pieres jr. 10, Pablo Mac Donough 10, Juan MartÃn Nero 10. Total 40.
Chapa Uno Hope Funds (12 ): Rodrigo Ribeiro de Andrade 8, Hilario Ulloa 8, Bautista Heguy 9, Francisco de Narváez jr. 9.Total 34.
Chukker scores: Ellerstina 3-1,5-2,6-5,9-6,10-8,13-9,16-12.
Scorers: Ellerstina Facundo Pieres 9 (6 pen), Gonzalo Pieres jr. 1, Pablo Mac Donough 2, Juan MartÃn Nero 4.Chapa Uno: Rodrigo Ribeiro de Andrade 2, Hilario Ulloa 3, Bautista Heguy 3 (2 pen), Francisco de Narváez jr. 4 pen.