Ellerstina cruises into the semifinals next week following a second consecutive Argentine Open win, but continue to raise questions of whether or not they are capable of standing up to the powerful La Dolfina 40-goal team.
This afternoon Ellerstina (2-0) managed to hold off a talented La Natividad foursome for their second consecutive win and a semifinal spot next week against La Aguada (1-1), but the going wasn’t easy.
Ellerstina took an early 3-1 lead in the first chukker and seemed to have things in hand. La Natividad struggled, and looked to be outclassed in the early going.
Second chukker play had Ellerstina outscoring La Natividad 3-1. The chukker ended with La Natividad in front, 6-2.
La Natividad got into rhythm in the third, outscoring Ellerstina, 4-2. The period ended with La Natividad cutting the Ellerstina lead to a pair of goals, 8-6.
The emphasis was on defense in the fourth. Each team managed a goal, but there was no Ellerstina dominance. The first half ended with Ellerstina up by two goals, 9-7.
Defenses continued to dominate in the second half. La Natividad managed to score the only goal in the fifth chukker. The powerful Ellerstina scoring machine was absent. After five chukkers of play, Ellerstina defended a narrow one goal 9-8 lead.
A reorganized Ellerstina returned to the field in the sixth period. The defense held, limiting La Natividad to a single goal, while Ellerstina managed to score three of their own. With two chukkers left to play Ellerstina held a three goal, 12-9 edge.
La Natividad turned the tables on the boys in black in the seventh. Three La Natividad goals were answered by a single goal from Ellerstina. With one chukker in regulation time, Ellerstina held a fragile one goal advantage, 13-12.
The two teams battled back and forth in the eighth chukker. Ellerstina managed to add three more goals to their total while La Natividad fell short, losing 16-14.
The victory will put Ellerstina in a showdown with La Aguada in next week’s competition. A win will elevate them into the tournament finals.
LA AGUADA/LAS MONJITAS 12, LA AGUADA 11 OT
In earlier competition, brother faced brother, as La Aguada/Las Monjitas managed to upset La Aguada 12-11 in overtime for their first Argentine Open win.
The two teams battled through a scoreless first chukker and didn’t show much more in the second, with La Aguada scoring the only goal of the first two chukkers in a 1-0 game.
Two more La Aguada goals in the third were answered by a single score from La Aguada/Las Monjitas. At the end of the chukker, La Aguada led by two goals, 3-1.
Sapo Caset scored on a beautifully executed neck shot in the fourth, but La Aguada/Las Monjitas responded with a single goal to trail 4-2 at the end of the first half.
La Aguada/Las Monjitas got more aggressive in the second half. The two teams exchanged single goals, but Magoo Laprida connected on a well-placed shot that cut the La Aguada lead to a single goal at the end of the chukker, 5-4.
La Aguada was outscored 2-1 in the sixth period. La Aguada was unable to shake the La Aguada/Las Monjitas defense. The game was all even at 6-6 at the end of the chukker.
Two more goals from La Aguada were matched by La Aguada/Las Monjitas in the seventh. It was all even again, 8-8 going into the final chukker in regulation play.
Three eighth chukker goals from La Aguada were matches by La Aguada/Las Monjitas. The score was deadlocked at 11-11 at the end of regulation time.
Alejandro Novillo Astrada scored the winning goal in overtime to give La Aguada/Las Monjitas the upset 12-11 victory over La Aguada.
Depending on next week’s outcome between Ellerstina and La Aguada, and the results of the La Aguada/Las Monjitas vs. La Natividad game, almost anything appears possible.