Adolfo Cambiaso and company with one of his clones, Cuartetera 6, Best Playing Pony of Saturday afternoon’s Argentine Open semifinal.
La Dolfina (Adolfo Cambiaso, David Stirling, Pablo MacDonough and Juan Martin Nero) opened Saturday’s semifinal of the 2016 Argentine Open at Palermo, Buenos Aires in quick style with Pablo MacDonough scoring the first goal of the game just 31 seconds into play. A Cria Yatay (Guillermo Terrera, Magoo Laprida, Joaquin Pittaluga and Inaki Laprida) soul sent Adolfo Cambiaso to the penalty line less than a minute later where he converted a short penalty shot through the goalposts to make it 2-0. Joaquin Pittaluga converted a 30-yard penalty shot for Cria Yatay at the 3:14 mark but a final goal from Cambiaso closed out the first chukker of play with La Dolfina on top, 3-1.
Second chukker goals from Pelon Stirling and Juan Martin Nero extended the La Dolfina lead to four goals, 5-1, before Cria Yatay replied. Another penalty conversion from Pittaluga had Cria Yatay trailing by three goals, 5-2. For the second straight chukker Cambiaso scored the final goal, giving La Dolfina a four-goal lead, 6-2, and then it all came back.
La Dolfina shellacked Cria Yatay23-9 in Hurlingham Open play and dropped an earlier Argentine Open match to the 40-goal powerhouse, 22-7, and they were just getting started in Saturday’s game.
Guillermo Terrera opened the third period with a goal from the field followed by a penalty goal from Cambiaso and two goals from Nero. The La Dolfina lead grew to six goals, 9-3, with five chukkers left to play, and Cria Yatay saw the game slipping away from them.
Nero scored his fourth goal of the day at the 1:31 mark of the fourth, 10-3, and Cambiaso stole the ball from Inaki Laprida and carried it through the goal posts for a five-goal lead. A penalty conversion by Cambiaso ended the first half with La Dolfina enjoying a nine-goal lead, 12-3.
Cambiaso continued to flaunt the talent of his Cuartetera clones in the fifth, with Cuartetera 6 carrying him to the first goal of the chukker before converting two penalty shots for goals. Cria Yatay was held scoreless for the second straight chukker and trailed, 15-3.
The sixth period was all La Dolfina, once again. Nero opened the scoring with a goal from the field followed by a goal from Sterling, 17-3. MacDonough scored the final two goal of the period while the entire La Dolfina lineup complimented with offensive thrust with shutout defense. The La Dolfina lead exploded to sixteen goals, 19-3.
Terrera finally got Cria Yatay on the scoreboard again, scoring a goal from the field in the opening minutes of the seventh, 19-4. La Dolfina quickly extinguished any thoughts of a rally with back-to-back goals from Nero and a goal from Stirling. Cria Yatay found themselves down by eighteen goals, 22-4, entering the eighth chukker.
There was no mercy given to Cria Yatay in the final period. Nero continued to play with a hot hand, scoring three consecutive goals, 25-4. Single goals from Cambiaso and Stirling ended the game with La Dolfina earning a spot in the Argentine Open final on the strength of their thunderous 27-4 victory.
Cambiaso led all scoring with ten goals (six on penalty shots). Nero added nine goals with Stirling and MacDonough scoring four goals each for the win. Terrera and Pittaluga scored two goals apiece for Cria Yatay, with both of Pittaluga’s goals coming on penalty conversions.
The second semifinal of the Argentine Open is scheduled to take place on Sunday at 4:30pm at Palermo with Ellerstina (Facundo Pieres, Gonzalo Pieres, Polito Pieres and Nico Pieres) facing Alegría (Guillermo Caset, Hilario Ulloa, Lucas Monteverde and Fred Mannix), not a game Ellerstina should be looking past, remembering their 19-15 loss to Alegria in the semifinals of the Argentine Open in 2013.