Nacho Astrada injured, game suspended; La Dolfina trashes Algeria, 19-10 By Alex Webbe
It was a disappointing day in Hurlingham Open competition for La Aguada (Lucas
James, Magoo Laprida, Eduardo Novillo Astrada, Alejandro Novillo
Astrada) as the grounds at the Hurlingham Club of Buenos Aires proved to be the
biggest impediment for the boys from Open Door in their match with Chapaleufú
(Alberto Heguy, Francisco Elizalde, Bautista Heguy and Eduardo Heguy) Saturday
afternoon.
Facundo Sola got La Aguada on the scoreboard first with a tying goal from Chapa’s
Francisco Elizalde for a 1-1 first chukker.
Two more goals from Sola in the second period were countered by a single goal from
Elizalde. After two chukkers of play, La Aguada held a narrow 3-2 edge.
It was just 40 seconds into the third chukker when Nacho Novillo Astrada hit the ground,
breaking his left collarbone and forcing his retirement from the game. Julio Novillo
Astrada was recruited to fill in, but concerns about the condition of the field caused the
game to be suspended. Plans for a resumption of the game are set for Monday with La
Aguada holding the 3-2, one goal lead.
LA DOLFINA 19, ALEGRIA 10
La Dolfina (Adolfo Cambiaso, Pelon Stirling, Pablo MacDonough and Juan Martín Nero)
showed the form that carried them to the recent Tortugas Open championship in a 19-
10 domination of Alegría (Diego Cavanagh, Lucas Monteverde, Hilario Ulloa, Frederick
Mannix) as the second round of play for the 39-goal powerhouse got underway.
In their last five open games, La Dolfina has scored a whopping 86 goals for an average
of 17.2 goals per game, and they seemed to have no difficulty in producing goals at
Hurlingham either. La Dolfina opened Hurlingham Open play with a 22-10 win over
Chapaleufú and appear to be unstoppable on offense.
Alegria took an early 2-1 lead over La Dolfina, but the advantage was only temporary.
La Dolfina closed out the opening chukker with consecutive goals for a 3-2 lead and
never looked back.
Adolfo Cambiaso continued to shine as he led his teammates to a commanding 10-3
halftime lead.
La Dolfina led by nine goals after the fifth (13-4) and thirteen goals (19-6) after the
seventh. Alegria scored the last four goals of the match as La Dolfina coasted through
the final seven minutes of the game for the 19-10 win.
Cambiaso led all scoring with nine goals (four on penalty conversions). Juan Martin
Nero scored four times while Pelon Stirling and Pablo MacDonough added three goals
apiece. Fred Mannix led the Alegria attack with six goals (four on penalty shots).
Hilario Ulloa and Diego Cavanagh (filling in for Polito Pieres-appendicitis) each scored a
pair of goals in the loss.
In anticipation of rain, the Argentine Polo Association has moved up the times of
Sunday’s games with La Natividad (Sapo Caset, Nachi Heguy, Rodrigo Andrade and
Lolo Castagnola) and Magual (Alejandro Muzzio, Ignacio Toccalino, Marcos Di Paola
and Jaime Huidobro) playing at 11am instead of 2pm. Ellerstina/Piaget (Facundo
Pieres, Gonzalito Pieres, Mariano Aguerre and Paco de Narvaez-playing for the injured
Nico Pieres) will face La Aguada - Las Monjitas (Agustin Merlos, Magoo Laprida,
Eduardo Novillo Astrada, Alejandro Novillo Astrada) at 2pm.