After plenty of drama that involved the definition of League B, of the 85th. Tortugas Open, on Sunday October 19 Ellerstina Indios Chapaleufu won their match against UAE and are through the final of the second leg of the Triple Crown in Argentina. It’s worth to remember that, before the matches, three teams were eligible to play the final – Ellerstina Indios Chapaleufu, La Ensenada and UAE.
Just a quick review about what was expected before the games started:
If Ellerstina Indios Chapaleufu win their game, will advance to the final.
If La Ensenada lose against La Hache Cría & Polo, the second contest would become a semifinal, with the winner advancing to the final.
In the event La Ensenada beat La Hache Cría & Polo, there were three options:
1) UAE must win by 2 goals or more to reach the final.
2) If UAE win by 1 goal, but score 14 or less, La Ensenada will be finalist.
3) If UAE win by 1 goal, but score 15 or more, the finalist will be Ellerstina Indios Chapaleufu
The opening match saw La Ensenada and La Hache Cría & Polo playing a very close contest until the third chukka. Following a scoreless first chukka, Toly Ulloa produced the first goal for La Hache Cría & Polo. However, La Ensenada replied quickly with a great goal by Rufino Bensadon. La Hache Cría & Polo would claim second chukka 3-2, but La Ensenada managed to make a comeback in the third and took a 6-4 lead, and widened their lead to an impressive 10-5 by half time. The even contest was over, and La Ensenada were ready to reach their objective, led by their flagship man, Jero del Carril, but also thanks to a remarkable team play. By the end of the fifth chukka, they were 13-5 up. Meanwhile, La Hache Cría & Polo struggled to get back in the score, mostly through Bautista Bayugar’s accuracy to convert penalties, but the deal was almost said and done in the sixth chukka, when they had a commanding 17-8 lead. La Ensenada slowed down a bit in the last chukka, knowing that their win was never in danger. At the end of the day, they won 18-13, and it was time to wait the result of the second match to reveal the second finalist of the Tortugas Open.
The decisive contest, the one that would reveal La Natividad La Dolfina’s contender would come up after the second game of the day, between Ellerstina Indios Chapaleufu and UAE. The three of them still had hopes to step into the final.
UAE’s Lukin Monteverde opened the scores in the first chukka, that ended up with Ellerstina Indios Chapaleufu leading by a 2-1 score, courtesy of Antonio Heguy and Facundo Pieres. In the following chukka, it was UAE who took the lead, a second chukka that saw many fouls; but the third would be a very different story, an open, fast paced chukka that ended tied at 5-all. Halfway in the fourth chukka, Ellerstina Indios Chapaleufu took off, widening their advantage to three goals, which was quite significant, because until then, the gap between the two has been no more than one goal, and even several ties. Facundo Pieres led Ellerstina Indios Chapaleufu to a 9-6 advantage by half time. Meanwhile, Polito Pieres scored UAE’s single goal in the chukka.
In the fifth chukka, a couple of fouls awarded to UAE ended up in two 30-yards penalty, successfully converted by Polito Pieres, As a result, from trailing by three goals, UAE closed the gap to just one goal, and even tied at 12-all in the seventh chukka. But that was when Cruz Heguy came up to secure the 13-12 lead for Ellerstina Indios Chapaleufu, with only on chukka left; a last chukka with plenty of drama, indeed. The winning goal came from Facundo Pieres’ mallet when he sealed the 14-12 win, with a minute and a half in the clock, the goal that secured Ellerstina Indios Chapaleufu the second spot in the championship match of the second leg of the Triple Crown.
LA NATIVIDAD LA DOLFINA AND ELLERSTINA INDIOS CHAPALEUFU WILL GO HEAD-TO-HEAD FOR THE 85nd. TORTUGAS OPEN ON SATURDAY OCTOBER 25, AT 4pn (ARGENTINA TIME).
85nd. TORTUGAS OPEN – Teams & Fixture
Cover photo by Matías Callejo/Prensa AAP.