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Jawwad Qamar
May 27, Moorpark, CA: Defending champions Ciudad De Buenos Aires opened third days play with a 4-1 victory against the local club Mystery after being held goalless in the first half. This by far was the best performance for the locals who lost a number of key players to USA national teams’ visit to China for a 4-nation tournament. The other crowd favorites, Namdhari from Punjab, India closed the days’ proceedings with a merciless 10-1 pounding of the same Mystery. In between, the two giants clashed for what can easily be termed as the match of the tournament (and what’s to come on Monday in the final), where Buenos Aires edged the Indians 2-1 in front of a large crowd that was kept on the edge of their seats throughout with end to end action.
Both teams had already qualified for the finals going into this match, but there was no holding back from either side even thou the Argentineans went with backup goalkeeper Geronimo Cebero in the second half. A local product, Cebero held his own keeping the always dangerous Namdhari forwards at bay while a very proud mom, Elina watched from the stands. Earlier, Dirty Birds of Vancouver beat both Pacific Sun and San Francisco with the same 1-0 score to reserve a spot for third place match. Pacific Sun joined them with a 2-0 win over San Francisco.
In the women’s division, Ciudad De Buenos Aires and Malvern played to a 1-1 tie in an exciting game that was 0-0 at halftime. After Yanina Rojas’ goal for Buenos Aires, Orie Trotman got the equalizer for Malvern 3 minutes before the end to keep her teams’ hopes alive for a playoff spot. Malvern secured that spot later with a comfortable 3-0 win over the Stanford Cardinal to finish second to Buenos Aires in pool A. In pool B, Mexico and Monarcas had clinched semifinal berths a day earlier and played each other to decide who ends first in the pool. Mexico took care of that by edging Monarcas 1-0 in both teams final match.
Competition for both titles on Monday is going to be fierce – the champions in each group receives a winner take all $5,000 first prize. Actually, all of Monday’s matches in both divisions should be very entertaining for the fans to watch and a large crowd is expected at the wonderful facility here at Moorpark College. While the women’s finalist will be decided later, everyone knows what to expect in the men’s final between Ciudad De Buenos Aires and Namdhari – a battle - Buenos Aires is going for their third straight title and the Indians want to avenge their semifinal loss from 2005 and from today, at the hands of these same Argentineans.
Monday’s matches
Women’s Semifinals:
Mexico vs Melvern 7:00 AM
Ciudad De Buenos Aires vs Monarcas 8:00 AM
Women’s final 1:15 PM
Men Final;
Ciudad De Buenos Aires vs Namdhari 2:45 PM
For all scores, today’s schedule and directions to the hockey venues, please check the official site for more details.