La Dolfina cruises past La Aguada-will face Ellerstina in finals

By Alex Webbe

La Dolfina (Adolfo Cambiaso, Pelon Stirling, Pablo MacDonough and Juan Martin Nero) made it look easy Sunday afternoon at the Tortugas Country Club in Buenos Aires as they ran over a 36-goal La Aguada (Sapo Caset, Javier Novillo Astrada, Miguel Novillo Astrada and Ignacio (Nacho) Novillo Astrada) foursome, 16-9. The victory will boost La Dolfina into the finals of the Tortugas Open on Wednesday against defending champion, Ellerstina.

Pablo MacDonough scored the first goal of the game for the 1-0 lead, but Miguel Novillo Astrada responded with a goal to make it 1-1. Pelon Stirling and MacDonough scored single goals followed by a pair of penalty conversions from Adolfo Cambiaso and the first chukker ended with La Dolfina holding a commanding 5-1 advantage.

Defense was the name of the game in the second chukker as drive after drive was turned aside. After seven minutes of play the score remained unchained with La Aguada trailing by four goals, 5-1.

Javier Novillo Astrada opened the scoring in the third period followed by a goal from Cambiaso at the four minute mark. Miguel Novillo Astrada cut the lead to three goals, 6-3, with his second goal of the game, but MacDonough scored the final goal of the chukker for a 7-3 La Dolfina lead.

MacDonough capped off a beautiful drive down the field with his fourth goal of the game, and a minute later scored again to give La Dolfina a 9-3 edge. La Aguada had a 60-yard penalty shot blocked before Sapo Caset made good on another 60-yarder for a 9-4 score. La Dolfina continued to play very smoothly and effectively while La Aguada struggled.

MacDonough made it 10-4 with the opening goal of the fifth chukker, but consecutive penalty conversions from Caset cut the lead back to four goals, 10-6. A final goal from La Dolfina had La Aguada staring at an 11-6 deficit with two chukkers left in the game.

La Dolfina stretched the lead to seven goals in the sixth, outscoring an anemic La Aguada offense, 3-1. With one period left, La Dolfina was riding a seven goal lead, 14-7.

Nero and MacDonough scored consecutive goals for a 16-7 lead in the seventh before the La Dolfina team eased up. La Aguada scored two meaningless goals to end the game with La Dolfina taking home a 16-9 win and a date with Ellerstina in Wednesday’s finals of the 2012 Tortugas Open finals.