Palermo, the cathedral of polo, in Buenos Aires, home of the Argentine Open Championship.
There was no hesitation in the performance of La Dolfina (Adolfo Cambiaso, Pelon Stirling, Pablo MacDonough and Juan Martín Nero) Sunday afternoon at Palermo as they scored four consecutive goals and took a 4-0 lead after the first chukker of 2013 Argentine Open play against La Aguada/Las Monjitas (Lucas James, Magoo Laprida, Eduardo Novillo Astrada and Alejandro Novillo Astrada) on their way to a 15-10 win.
La Aguada/Las Monjitas scored the only goal of the second period, but continued to trail. La Dolfina left the field with a 4-1 lead after two chukkers.
Three more La Dolfina goals extended their lead to five goals, 7-2. La Aguada/Las Monjitas scored a single goal but were clearly out-gunned by the talented 39-goal team.
The teams exchanged goals in the fourth, each picking up a pair. La Dolfina led by five goals at the end of the first half, 9-4.
La Dolfina scored just once in the fifth while La Aguada/Las Monjitas added a pair. La Dolfina remained in control of a 10-6 game.
Adolfo Cambiaso took the field in the sixth with Show Me, the first cloned polo pony to participate in the Argentine Open. La Dolfina scored four times while limiting La Aguada/Las Monjitas to a single goal. The La Dolfina lead had ballooned to seven goals at the end of the chukker, 14-7.
La Dolfina scored first in the seventh chukker to move in front 15-7. Magoo Laprida responded for La Aguada/Las Monjitas by scoring the only other goal of the chukker. The seven goal La Dolfina lead held, 15-8.
With La Dolfina coasting through the final seven minutes of the eighth chukker, La Aguada/Las Monjitas tallied a pair of meaningless goals. The victory went to La Dolfina, 15-10, keeping their hopes alive for a Triple Crown sweep this year.
Seven of Adolfo Cambiaso’s game-high nine goals came on penalty shots. Pelon Stirling scored three times; Juan Martin Nero added two; and Pablo MacDonough scored once in the win. Magoo Laprida’s four goals led the La Aguada/Las Monjitas attack. Alejandro Novillo Astrada converted three penalty shots; Eduardo Novillo Astrada scored twice from the field; and Lucas James scored a goal in the loss.
MAGUAL UPSETS LA NATIVIDAD, 14-12
Magual (Alejandro Muzzio, Ignacio Toccalino, Marcos Di Paola and Jaime Huidobro) was one of the last two teams to join the field for the Hurlingham Open and the Argentine Open, coming through the qualifying round of competition. Their early efforts resulted in four consecutive losses (including last week’s 15-9 defeat at the hands of La Dolfina), but a concerted effort had them in control of a talented La Natividad (Sapo Caset, Nachi Heguy, Rodrigo Andrade and Lolo Castagnola) team through much of Sunday’s game as they scored their first win in a 14-12 upset of the 35-goal team.
Magual took the early lead in a 2-1 opening chukker, and built on it to go ahead, 4-2 after the second.
The two teams exchanged goals in the third, each scoring twice. Magual continued to lead, 6-4.
La Natividad pressured the Magual defense in the fourth, outscoring them, 2-1. However, at the end of the first half Magual held a 7-6 advantage.
Play went back and forth in the fifth period with each team scoring a pair of goals. Nachi Heguy tied it at 8-8, but it was Ignacio Toccalino who scored the goal that kept Magual in the lead. They had successfully defended their narrow lead and left the field at the end of the chukker on top of a 9-8 score.
La Natividad stepped it up in the sixth. Outscoring Magual 3-2, the green-shirted team managed to tie it up at 11-11 by the end of the chukker.
Magual got back to work in the seventh period, outscoring La Natividad 2-1. The teams rode into the final chukker with La Natividad trailing by a single goal, 13-12.
The Magual defense held for the final chukker of play. Another goal extended the margin to two goals, 14-12 as a resolute Magual defense shutout the La Natividad attack for the win.
Ignacio Toccalino scored seven of his game-high nine goals from the field. Alejandro Muzzio added four goals and Marcos De Paola scored once in the team’s first victory. Sapo Caset’s nine goals (seven on penalty conversions) set the pace for La Natividad. Lolo Castagnola scored twice and Rodrigo Andrade scored a goal from the field.