Third time lucky, as Ellerstina beat La Dolfina 13-12 in over time

By Iain Forbes-Cockell ("The Major")

There was an enormous cheer of approval from the spectators as an 80 yard shot from the Dorrego side of the ground by Gonzalito Pieres found the goal at the scoreboard end to clinch an overtime victory for Ellerstina in the third meeting of these two teams in four years and the third time the match has been resolved in overtime. On the two previous occasions, La Dolfina have had the luck to win. This time it was Ellerstina’s turn to get lucky and it prevented the final from being yet another predictable win for La Dolfina. A poll in a morning newspaper had found 68% thought La Dolfina would win again. It was a tight, close and relatively low scoring game for the most part, with only one chukka, the fourth, where there was more than one goal between the two teams at the end of a chukka.

La Dolfina scored the only goal of the first chukka after several failed attempts on goal by both teams. An interesting moment was when Juan Martin Nero, who after the match was named MVP, passed the ball to Gonzalito Pieres, who hit the ball in the air four consecutive shots before passing to Facundo Pieres whose shot near goal was turned by Adolfito Cambiaso. He ran the ball and then passed to Mariano Aguerre to open the scoring (0-1).The second chukka saw Adolfito score a Penalty 2 and Facundo Pieres score three goals, two of which were Penalty 2s. At the end of the second chukka it was 3-2 to Ellerstina. A Penalty 2 by Facu and a Penalty 4 by Adolfito were the only scores in the third chukka, which ended 4-3 in Ellerstina’s favour.

The fourth chukka saw Ellerstina put their foot down and score 3 goals, a lovely Gonzalito near side shot, a Penalty 3 by Facu and, after a great run from the lineout, Facu scored a field goal. Adolfito countered with a Penalty from the spot about five yards from goal. The score at the end of the fourth chukka was 7-4 to Ellerstina. In the fifth chukka, a great passing move from Mariano Aguerre to Lucas Monteverde ended in him scoring to close the gap to two goals (7-5). Facu then scored with an under the neck shot (8-5). A multi-player attack by La Dolfina resulted in Adolfito scoring and a Penalty 3 which Adolfito converted saw the score closed to 8-7 at the end of the fifth chukka. Juan Martin Nero had a run but the ball popped out over the boards, then Gonazalito’s shot went just wide and finally a fabulous under the neck shot from Gonzalito moved the score up to 9-7. A Penalty 3 scored by Adolfito brought La Dolfina back to within one goal at 9-8 by the end of the sixth chukka.

After a spot hit from within their own half La Dolfina mounted an attack and Mariano Aguerre scored to tie the scores at 9-9. A Penalty 4 by Adolfito put La Dolfina in the lead for the first time since the first chukka. Ellerstina felt the pressure. Surely La Dolfina couldn’t sweep past them after they had held the lead and had the run of most of the plays, that would be too much to bear. As it happened, Pablo MacDonough launched another attack but his shot went just wide. A spot hit to Ellerstina saw a pass from Juanma to Pablo who levelled the scores. A big sigh of relief for Ellerstina. A spot hit by Adolfito was turned by Ellerstina who were then fouled. The Penalty 5B was taken by Juanma and Facu was fouled in the goalmouth. Facu then popped in the penalty shot to put Ellerstina back into the lead at 11-10 at the end of the seventh chukka.

Right at the start of the eighth chukka, Adolfito attacked and passed to Mariano Aguerre who scored to make it 11-11. Nerves were beginning to kick in and the atmosphere was tense. There was that “it’s going to overtime feeling” creeping in. An Adolfito shot went just wide then a Penalty 4 taken by Facu missed! This was four minutes into the chukka. After a further 90 seconds of play, the scores were still level. Juanma had a great run and scored to put Ellerstina into a 12-11 lead with about 45 seconds of the chukka left. A foul in the lineout gave La Dolfina a spot hit from which Adolfito ran and scored to bring it back to 12-12 with only 5 seconds left! So, it was to be overtime again between these two giants of polo. At the throw in, Ellerstina managed to get the ball and Gonzalito ran to the left of the field, changed angle and struck his long range match winning shot through goal to win the Open for Ellerstina with the score at 13-12.

History was going to be made in todays final whatever the result. If La Dolfina won against Ellerstina (again), they would have been the first team to win four consecutive Argentine Open tournaments since La Espadaña. If Ellerstina won, it would be the first time since 10 years ago that Ellerstina had won the Open and it would prove that they should be a 40 goal side. Incidentally, 10 years ago Ellerstina’s winning team was Adolfo Cambiaso, Mariano Aguerre, Gonzalo Pieres and Lolo Castagnola! A delighted Gonzalo Pieres joined his two sons on the podium once they had received their trophies.

Ellerstina: Facundo Pieres 10 (8, five penalties), Gonzalo Pieres (h) 10 (2), Pablo Mac Donough 10 (2) (received a yellow card in the third chukka) and Juan Martín Nero 9 (1) (received a yellow card in the first chukka) Total: 39.

La Dolfina: Adolfo Cambiaso (h) 10 (8, six penalties), Lucas Monteverde (h) 10 (2), Mariano Aguerre 10 (2) (received a yellow card in the fifht chukka) and Bartolomé Castagnola 10. Total: 40.

Score - Ellerstina: 0-1, 3-2, 4-3, 7-4, 8-7, 9-8, 11-10, 12-12 and 13-12.

Referees: Daniel Boudou and Matías Baibiene. Umpire: Augusto Gómez Romero