Forfeit gives the Ylvisaker Cup to El Cabure


Forfeit gives theYlvisaker Cup to El Cabure


By Alex Webbe

In a surprising turn of events Valiente (Robert Jornayvaz,Santi Torres, Sapo Caset and Tomas Garbarini) were forced to forfeit the finalof the 2014 Ylvisaker Cup, giving the trophy to El Cabure (Scott Wood, SugarErskine, Agustin Merlos and Carlucho Arellano) without a chukker being played.

It appears that in a little known rule of the United StatesPolo Association’s, an improper replacement of a Valiente player made the team ineligible. 

According to a statement issued by the International PoloClub, “Valiente was informed an hour before the game that due to a technicalityone of the players on their roster was not eligible to play, therefore theyelected to withdraw.”

A replacement team was quickly recruited to replace theValiente team on the field, and in short order, an ERG team (Kelly Plato, JuanMartin Obregon, Marianito Obregon and Jose Donoso) rode onto the field to battlethe veteran El Cabure lineup in a four chukker exhibition game.

Without the benefit of handicap from the 20-goal El Cabureteam, the 18-goal ERG team of replacement players lost 5-3, with El Cabure teamcaptain Scott Wood scoring four of his team’s five goals.

Marianito Obregon scored twice for ERG; with Jose Donoso pickingup his team’s only other goal in the 5-3 loss.


AUDI 11, FARAWAY 9

Earlier in the day, Audi (Grant Ganzi, Lucas Lalor, NicRoldan and Freddie Mannix) scored an 11-9 win over Faraway (Santiago Chavanne,Martin Pepa, Mariano Gonzalez and Hutton Goodman) in the Ylvisaker Cup subsidiarytournament.

With fifteen-year-old Grant Ganzi replacing his father,Marc, in the lineup, Audi took an immediate 1-0 lead for a 1-0 start.  First chukker goals from Fred Mannix and NicRoldan (penalty goal) gave Audi a 3-0 edge.

The two teams traded goals in the second with Roldan addingtwo more goals for Audi while Faraway picked up a penalty and a goal from thefield from Gonzalez.  After two chukkersof play, Audi found themselves in control of a 5-3 game.

Single goals from Martin Pepa and Nic Roldan cancelled oneanother out as the first half came to a close. Audi rode off the field with a 6-4 halftime lead.

Roldan got Audi on the right track as the talented 8-goaleraccounted for all three of the Audi goals. Roldan opened the chukker by converting a 40-yard penalty shot for agoal.  Two more goals from the field fromRoldan were answered by a single penalty goal from Gonzalez.  At the end of the fourth chukker, Audi wasdriving off with a four goal, 9-5 advantage.

Faraway rallied in the fifth period, picking up a pair ofgoals from Santiago Chavanne and a single goal from Hutton Goodman.   Mannixscored a single goal for Audi who continued to led, 10-8.

Faraway continued to press and looked to build on themomentum they picked up in the previous chukker, but that would not be thecase.  Chavanne brought Faraway to withina goal in the final chukker, but Roldan put the nail in the coffin with his eighthgoal of the game in the team’s 11-9 victory.

Roldan led all scoring with eight goals and was named MVPfor his efforts.  Mannix added two goalsand the team received one goal by handicap from the 20-goal Faraway lineup.  Gonzalez set the pace for Faraway with fourgoals.  Chavanne scored three times whilePepa and Goodman were each credited with a goal in the course of the match.  Gonzalez’s gray mare, Meghan, received BestPlaying Pony honors.