U.S. Polo Assn. wins Aspen World Snow Polo Championship
By Alex Webbe
A stellar team effort by the U.S. Polo Assn. (Grant Ganzi, Juancito Bollini and Nic Roldan) Saturday afternoon at Aspen’s Rio Grande Park carried them to a resounding 10-5 win over a powerful Flexjet team (Melissa Ganzi, Juan Bollini and Jeff Hall) as they rode off with the 2015 St. Regis World Sow Polo Championship before an enthusiastic crowd in the Colorado ski resort town.
The two teams parried back and forth in the opening minutes of play before Flexjet team captain Melissa Ganzi scored the first goal of the game for the 1-0 lead. That was when Nic Roldan and his teammates took control of the match. Roldan’s first goal of the game tied it at 1-1 with Juancito Bollini following it up with back to back goals that had the U.S. Polo Assn. in front by two goals, 3-1. Grant Ganzi broke loose from the final throw-in of the chukker and raced downfield for his first goal of the day and posting the U.S. Polo Assn. to a 4-1 advantage.
Jeff Hall got Flexjet back in the scoring column with a penalty conversion, 4-2. A foul in the goalmouth on an attacking Roldan resulted in a rarely called Penalty 1 that awarded the team a goal for a three goal lead, 5-2. Roldan closed out the chukker with a penalty conversion of his down as the U.S. Polo Assn. posted a 6-2 halftime score.
Roldan’s third goal of the game extended the U.S. Polo Assn. lead to five goals, 7-2 as Flexjet struggled to get their attack on track. Juancito Bollini scored the final goal of the third period and Flexjet found themselves trailing by six goals with one chukker remaining to be played.
Melissa Ganzi scored her second goal of the game to open the fourth chukker and cut the lead to five goals, 8-3. Grant Ganzi countered his mother’s goal with a penalty goal of his own, 9-3. Juan Bollini sparked a mini-rally with his first goal of the contest, 9-4, and Hall’s second goal on the day had them within four goals of the lead, but time was on the side of the U.S. Polo Assn. Flexjet continued to press the attack but there was little defensive give in the final minute of the period. In a last rush at the Flexjet goal it was Grant Ganzi with tail-shot for the final goal of the match as the U.S. Polo Assn. manhandled Flexjet 10-5.
Nic Roldan, Juancito Bollini and Grant Ganzi each scored three goals and the team received one goal on a Penalty 1. Roldan was named MVP with Melissa Ganzi’s Open Quarzo picking up Best Playing Pony honors.
Melissa Ganzi and Jeff Hall scored two goals each. Juan Bollini added a single goal in the loss.
ChukkerTV 6 ½, St. Regis 5
St. Regis (Brian Boyd, Carlitos Gracida and Nacho Figueras) scored first in the subsidiary final of the day, taking a 4-1½ lead over ChukkerTV (Bernie Uechtritz, Martin Pepa and Mariano Gracida). St. Regis had to spot ChukkerTV one-half goal by handicap. Three first chukker goals from Nacho Figueras and a single goal from teammate Brian Boyd had St. Regis in control in the opening chukker. Martin Pepa tallied the only goal from the field in the period as St. Regis took the early lead,
Second chukker goals from Bernie Uechtritz and Mariano Gracida were complimented by a pony-goal that had them in front by one-half goal, 4½ -4. Shutout defense held the talented St. Regis offense scoreless as the momentum shifted. At the end of the first half it was ChukkerTV with a narrow lead.
Both defenses stepped it up in the third period. Shots on goal were deflected and powerful backhanders kept both attacks at bay. In an effort to clear the gall at the St. Regis end of the field the ball bounced off of a pony and registered for the ChukkerTV team. With one period remaining to be played, the ChukkerTV lead grew to 1½ goals, 5½ -4.
The sting was missing from the St. Regis attack in fourth chukker play. Shots on goal missed on several occasions with each member of the St. Regis team getting a chance to score. Brian Boyd’s second goal of the game cut the ChukkerTV led back to a single goal, 5½-5, but time was running out. A final goal from Pepa was all Chukker TV needed as they held on for the 6½-5 victory.
Bernie Uechtritz had a successful World Snow Polo Cup debut, with MVP honors while Nacho Figueras’ mount, Merlot, was named Best Playing Pony.