An aggressive Pilara Piaget (Hilario Ulloa, Pancho Bensadon, Sebastian Merlos and Paco de Narvaez) attack took La Dolfina (Adolfo Cambiaso, Pelon Stirling, Pablo MacDonough and Juan Martin Nero) by surprise in the opening chukker as they galloped off to a 3-2 lead after the first chukker.
It took La Dolfina little time to right the ship, however, as they surged to a 6-4 lead after the second period.
The two teams exchanged goals in the third, with La Dolfina maintaining a two goal lead, 8-6.
Both teams step up their defenses in the fourth chukker. Two goals from La Dolfina are answered by a single goal from Pilara Piaget. La Dolfina leaves the field at the end of the first half with a three goal lead, 10-7.
Pilara Piaget took control of the fifth chukker by outscoring La Dolfina 3-1. La Dolfina continued to lead, but the lead was cut to a single goal, 11-10.
La Dolfina went to whip and spur in the sixth chukker, putting up three goals while holding Pilara Piaget to a pair. At the end of the period La Dolfina was on top of a 14-12 score, but Pilara Piaget made no signs of giving up.
The ongoing pressure by Pilara Piaget has forced La Dolfina to play their A Game, putting up three more goals in the seventh chukker while allowing a single goal. With one chukker left in regulation time, La Dolfina has expanded its lead over Pilara Piaget to four goals, 17-13.
Pilara Piaget made a run at La Dolfina in the final chukker, scoring three unanswered goals but fell just short. La Dolfina managed to hold on for the 17-16 win and a position in Saturday’s Hurlingham Open finals.
Alegria 20, Magual 13
Earlier in the day Alegria (1-2) scored its first victory of the Hurlingham Open by handing Magual (0-3) a convincing 20-13 beating.
Magual took an early 2-1 lead after the first chukker and ran it up to 6-4 after the second, but that was where it ended.
By the end of the third period, Alegria had taken a narrow one-goal 8-7 edge, a margin they held through the fourth chukker with their 10-9 advantage.
Alegria exploded in the second half with five goals while holding Magual to a single score. After five chukkers of play, Alegria enjoyed a five goal, 15-10 lead.
Magual outscored Alegria 3-1 in the sixth period, but continued to trail by three goals, 16-13.
Magual was held scoreless in the final two chukkers while Alegria managed to pick up a pair of goals in each period for the 20-13 final.