La Aguada – Las Monjitas (Agustin Merlos, Magoo Laprida, Eduardo Novillo Astrada, Alejandro Novillo Astrada) played La Dolfina (Adolfo Cambiaso, Pelon Stirling, Pablo MacDonough and Juan Martín Nero) tight through the first four chukkers of their Tortugas Open contest Thursday afternoon at the Buenos Aires club, but a second half surge carried La Dolfina to a 13-8 win that eliminated La Aguada/Las Monjitas from the competition.
La Dolfina took an early 2-1 lead after the first chukker, but couldn’t manage to shake the persistent La Aguada/Las Monjitas foursome through the first half of play.
The two teams exchanged goals in the second chukker, each scoring twice. La Dolfina rode off the field at the end of the period on top of a 4-3 score.
The defenses tightened in the third and fourth chukkers. Each team managed just a single goal in each chukker, ending the third with La Dolfina on top, 5-4 and leading 6-5 at the end of the fourth period.
La Dolfina got some separation from La Aguada/Las Monjitas in the fifth, picking up three goals. La Aguada scored twice, but fell behind by two goals, 9-7.
Two more goals in the sixth extended the La Dolfina lead to three goals. La Aguada/Las Monjitas attack scored twice but trailed by three goals, 11-8 at the end of the sixth chukker.
La Aguada/Las Monjitas added two more goals in the seventh while La Aguada/Las Monjitas was held scoreless. La Dolfina won, 13-5, and earned a berth in Sunday’s 3:30PM semifinals against a 1-0 La Natividad team (Sapo Caset, Nachi Heguy, Rodrigo Andrade and Lolo Castagnola).