Gonzalito Pieres on the ball for Ellerstina in their 14-9 Argentine Open win over La Aguada-Las Monjitas Sunday afternoon. (Photo courtesy of Matias Callejo)
Ellerstina (Facundo Pieres, Gonzalo Pieres, Polito Pieres and Nico Pieres) earned the second semifinal berth in the 2016 Argentine Open Championship with a 14-9 win over
La Aguada-Las Monjitas (Alejandro Novillo Astrada, Eduardo. Novillo Astrada, Miguel Novillo Astrada and Ignacio Novillo Astrada) Wednesday afternoon at Palermo in Buenos Aires.
An errant clearing stroke by Facundo Pieres saw the ball pass through the Ellerstina goal posts, giving La Aguada-Las Monjitas the early 1-0 lead. Facundo Pieres tied the game at 1-1 at the 2:50 mark. Just a minute later, Alejandro Novillo Astrada took the lead back for La Aguada-Las Monjitas with his first goal of the game, 2-1. Nico Pieres closed out the first chukker in a 2-2 tie.
Alejandro Novillo Astrada put La Aguada-Las Monjitas back into the lead, 3-2, with a 60-yard penalty conversion at 2:26. Facundo Pieres converted a 30-yard penalty shot just two minutes later and gave Ellerstina the go-ahead goal, 4-3, on a blistering shot that carried over 100-yards through the La Aguada-Las Monjitas goalposts, recording his 400th goal scored in Argentine Open competition.
Once again Alejandro Novillo Astrada opened the scoring with a tying goal, 4-4. And once again, Facundo Pieres closed out the period with a pair of goals (the second on a 40-yard penalty conversion) that had Ellerstina on top by two goals, 6-4.
Gonzalito extended the Ellerstina lead to three goals, 7-4, in the opening minute of the fourth chukker with a goal from the field. Nacho Novillo Astrada was injured in a fall at the 5:11 mark of the period and replaced by Francisco Elizalde. Alejandro Novillo Astrada scored the final goal of the chukker on a penalty shot that cut the Ellerstina back to two goals, 7-5, at the end of the first half.
Ellerstina took immediate advantage of a La Aguada-Las Monjitas team that was adjusting to its new lineup with Polito Pieres scoring just 29 seconds into the fifth chukker and Facundo Pieres adding a goal at 1:18. An 80-yard penalty shot from Facundo Pieres had Ellerstina in front by five goals, 10-5, flour minutes into the period before La Aguada-Las Monjitas responded. Substitute Francisco Elizalde scored the final goal of the chukker but Ellerstina held a comfortable 10-6 advantage.
A subdued sixth period was little in the way of scoring with Facundo Pieres scoring his eighth of the game just two minutes into the chukker, 11-6. Elizalde gave the La Aguada-Las Monjitas offense a boost with his second goal in just two periods but they continued to trail by four goals, 11-7.
Ellerstina struck quickly in the seventh with Gonzalito taking the ball from the opening throw-in and racing down the field for a goal, 12-7. Facundo Pieres converted a 60-yard Safety a minute later as the Ellerstina lead grew to six goals, 13-7. Elizalde scored the final goal of the period as La Aguada-Las Monjitas found themselves trailing by five goals, 13-8, going into the final chukker.
A penalty goal from Alejandro Novillo Astrada came at the 1:52 mark of the final chukker, but it wouldn’t be enough to spark a rally. Gonzalito Pieres scored his third goal of the game and gave the 14-9 win to Ellerstina, sending them to the semifinals on December 4th.
La Aguada-Las Monjitas stayed alive with a 2-1 record and will be facing Cria Yatay (Guillermo Terrera, Magoo Laprida, Joaquin Pittaluga and Inaki Laprida) on Sunday, November 27th in quarterfinal action.
La Irenita 14, El Paraiso 12
In the earlier math, La Irenita (Juan Ruiz Guiñazu, Juan M. Zavaleta, Matías MacDonough and Clemente Zavaleta) kept their hopes alive by defeating El Paraiso (Agustin Merlos, Ignacio Toccalino, Ignacio Heguy and Santiago Toccalino), 14-12, earning them a spot in the tournament quarterfinals this weekend where they will face Alegría (Guillermo Caset, Hilario Ulloa, Lucas Monteverde and Fred Mannix) on Saturday, November 26th.
The hotly-contested 2pm contest saw the 29-goal La Irenita entry upset a veteran 35-goal El Paraiso lineup.
In a low-scoring start to the game the two teams were tied at 1-1 after the first chukker; 2-2 after the second; and 3-3 after the third.
Fourth chukker goals from Juan Ruiz Guiñazu and Juan Martin Zavaleta were answered by a single goal from Cubi Toccalino. The first half ended with La Irenita in front by a single goal, 5-4.
The two teams traded goals in the fifth with Santi Toccalino and Nachi Heguy each scoring a goal and Guiñazu responding with two goal for La Irenita. La Irenita continued to lead, 7-6.
The sixth chukker was all Guiñazu. Three straight goals from the 7-goaler went unanswered as La Irenita found themselves leading by four goals, 10-6.
Tincho Merlos scored the opening two goals of the seventh period, 10-8, before Guiñazu returned fire with a goal of his own, 11-9. Santi Toccalino cut the lead back to two goals, 11-9 but Guiñazu ended the chukker with his tenth goal of the game for a 12-9 La Irenita edge.
Guiñazu made it 13-9 with the opening goal of the final chukker, and teammate Matias MacDonough scored his first goal of the day for a five-goal lead, 14-9. Two goals from Merlos and a final goal from Cubi Toccalino saw La Irenita, the lowest handicapped team in the field, score a 14-12 win over El Paraiso and earn a berth in Saturday’s quarterfinals where they will play Alegría (Guillermo Caset, Hilario Ulloa, Lucas Monteverde and Fred Mannix).
Guiñazu led all scoring with eleven goals on the day. Juan Martin Zavaleta, Clemente and MacDonough each scored once in the win. Merlos set the pace for El Paraiso with seven goals (six on penalty conversions). Cubi Toccalino and Santiago Toccalino each scored twice and Heguy added a goal in a losing effort that eliminated them from the tournament.