Heys USA captures 2012 Maserati South Beach Women’s Polo Cup
By Alex Webbe
Eight teams of some of the country’s top women players took to the sands
of south Beach on Thursday, April 26th to compete in the opening day
of the eighth annual Maserati Miami Beach Polo World Cup.
Day one brought the Maserati South Beach Women’s Polo Cup to an
enthusiastic audience of polo fans and sports enthusiasts.
The elite bracket of competition was captured by the Heys USA team of
Cecelia Cochran, Diana Jack and Alicia Harden, who took top honors with a hard
fought 3-1 win over a talented Lufthansa Private Jet team of Valerie Biehl,
Pamela Flanagan and Laura Willson.
Lufthansa Private Jet got into trouble early on with Cecelia Cochran
converting a pair of penalty shots and Diana Jack scoring from the field for a
3-1 lead in the opening chukker of play.
Laura Willson scored Lufthansa’s only goal of the chukker.
Second period play favored the Heys USA team once again with long runs
and ball control frustrating a Lufthansa Private Jet team that fought to get
back into play.
While Lufthansa Private Jet scored an earlier 3-1 win over Maserati they
couldn’t seem to get a handle on the Heys USA team. With neither team able to score in the second
chukker, Heys USA celebrated the 3-1 win for the tournament championship.
Cecelia Cochran was named MVP while Jennifer Williams’ Shy Fox was
honored as Best Playing Pony. Shy Fox is a fifteen-year-old chestnut mare with
white blaze. Williams played her in the WTC Finals 0-2 goal bracket placing 2nd
out of 4 teams, the WTC qualifier in the Villages 4 goal – won, Palm City WTC
qualifier – won. Shy Fox won the
Gulfstream Ladies Invitational, Port Mayaca WCT – 2nd out of 4 teams. Shy Fox came
out of the S. K. Johnson/Gillian Johnson Coca Cola breeding line.
The Bulgari team (Scarlet Davenport, Cristina Hosmer and Maggie McNamara)
took the top spot in the lower bracket of play with a 1-0 defensive win over a Ciroc
trio that included Josefina Gonzalez, Danielle Sciaretta and Liselotte
Sandberg. Cristina Hosmer scored the
winning goal in the contest.
Bulgari snuck its way into its bracket final with a 4-3 double overtime
shootout win over The Raleigh (Aimee Waters, Misty Allen and Slaney
O’Hanlon). Ciroc scored a preliminary
2-1 victory over E! Entertainment (Debra Atwell, Annaleise Atwell and Stephanie
Kraml-Suttle). Maggie McNamara was named
MVP.
The two finals culminated a day in which over twenty five players and 100
horses competed for tournament bragging rights.
“I can’t put into words just what a great time it was,†said Lufthansa
Private Jet’s Pamela Flanagan. “This was
absolutely the best time!†she added.
Flanagan, a senior at SMU where she is the captain of the women’s polo
team had just finished competing in regional competition where she scored 18
goals in one match! She wasn’t the only
collegiate star on the beach. This
year’s Gascon entry featured Julia Steiner and Kylee Sheehan, two members of
this year’s intercollegiate National Championship University of Virginia
women’s polo team.
“We’re going to try and return next year with our entire team,†said
Sheehan. “We had a great time.â€
The balance of the weekend was filled with parties and polo as the men’s
team took center stage in the Maserati Miami beach Polo World Cup.
The balance of the teams competing were: Gascon (Tara Lordi, Melissa Hornung,
Julia Steiner and Kylee Sheehan); Maserati (Lynn O’Connor, Jennifer Williams
and Jolie Liston); E! Entertainment.