Wins by La Dolfina
and Alegria in Hurlingham Open
By Alex Webbe
In first turn, on the Court 2, Alegria defeated Miramar
12-9; While then in 1, La Dolfina (title Defender) beat La Aguada/Las Monjitas,
by 12-6. Listening to these results, both winners will define next Saturday
25/10 at the Hurlingham Club, the area and the first finalist of the tournament
while the losers were eliminated and only will battle for the honor, and the
third position in the group.
The second round of play got started Wednesday afternoon in
the 2014 Hurlingham Cup with Alegria (Polito Pieres, Hilario Ulloa, Lucas
Monteverde and Frederick Mannix) scoring their second consecutive victory over Miramar
(Gonzalo del Tour, Valerio
Zubiaurre, Inaki Laprida and Santiago Toccalino) at the Argentine Polo
Association’s Field 2 at Pilar.
Playing their
second game without team captain Fred Mannix (broken finger-mallet hand),
Alegria jumped out to an early 2-0 lead.
The two first chukker goals went unanswered as Miramar struggled to find
a weakness in the Alegria defense.
Miramar got some
offense going in the second period, scoring three times while limiting Alegria
to just two goals. Alegria continued to lead,
but Miramar had cut the advantage down to a single goal, 4-3.
Alegria added
three goals in the third to extend their lead to two goals in the third,
7-5. Miramar scored twice but trailed,
7-5.
A resurgent
Miramar took the field in the fourth with a vengeance. They scored twice and held Alegria scoreless. After the first four chukkers of play the score
was all even at 7-7.
Alegria scored the
only goal of the fifth chukker as the second half got underway. Miramar tried to find a goal but had to be
content by holding Alegria to the one goal.
Alegria was back in the lead, 8-7.
Alegria’s two
sixth chukker goals had Alegria on top, 10-8, with Miramar managing a goal in
the chukker.
Two more Alegria
goals in the sixth went unanswered, 12-8, and Alegria coasted to the 12-9
finish at the end of the eighth.
Polito Pieres led
the Alegria attack with seven goals (four on penalty shots). Lucas Monteverde added three and Alfredo
Cappella Barabucci scored twice, once on a penalty conversion. Valerio Zubiaurre and Santiago Toccalino
scored three goals apiece with Inaki Laprida scoring once on the day.
La Dolfina 12, La Aguada/Las Monjitas 6
In the second
Hurlingham Open game of the day, La Dolfina (Adolfo Cambiaso, David
Stirling, Pablo MacDonough and Juan Martin Nero) rode past La Aguada/Las Monjitas, 12-6.
Miramar had been
humbled in their opening game of the Hurlingham Cup, falling to the defending
championship La Dolfina team La Dolfina (Adolfo Cambiaso, David
Stirling, Pablo MacDonough and Juan Martin Nero) 19-6, and they were determined
to make a better showing of themselves this time out.
In a defensively-oriented
opening chukker, La Aguada/Las Monjitas scored the only goal of the first
chukker for the 1-0 lead, but everyone knew that it was just a matter of time.
La Dolfina added
two goals to the scoreboard in the second while shutting out the La Aguada/Las
Monjitas attack. The La Aguada/Las
Monjitas lead was short-lived as La Dolfina left the field with a narrow 2-1
advantage.
La Dolfina stepped it up in the third period as La Aguada/Las
Monjitas fought to stay in the game. Three
goals by La Dolfina had them in the lead. By the end of the chukker the Pieres-led La Aguada/Las
Monjitas offense was held to a single goal and trailed 5-2.
Two more goals from La Dolfina in the fourth had them in
front by four goals. La Aguada/Las
Monjitas managed a single goal but trailed at the end of the first half, 7-3.
La Dolfina stretched the lead to five goals, 9-4, in the
fifth. The two teams exchanged single
goals in the sixth with La Dolfina remaining on top by five goals, 10-5.
La Dolfina outscored La Aguada/Las Monjitas 2-1 in the final
two periods for the 12-6 win.
Five of Adolfo Cambiaso’s six goals came on penalty
conversions. Pelon Stirling was credited
with four goals and Pablo MacDonough scored twice. Lucas James led the La Aguada/Las Monjitas
attack with three goals (one on a penalty shot). Alejandro Novillo Astrada scored once from
the field and once on a penalty shot.
Eduardo Novillo Astrada added a goal in the losing effort.
Hurlingham Open play continues on Thursday, October 23rd
with La Aguada (Facundo Sola, Guillermo Caset Jr., Miguel Novillo Astrada and Ignacio
Novillo Astrada) facing Chapaleufu (Pepe Heguy, Nachi Heguy, Francisco Bensadon
and Eduardo Heguy) at 2PM. At 4:30PM on
Field 1, Ellerstina (Facundo Pieres, Gonzalo Pieres Jr., Mariano Aguerre and Nicolas
Pieres) will play Magual (Alejandro Muzzio, Ignacio Toccalino, Marcos Di Paola
and Jaime Garcia Huidobro).