Last Chance Tournament- USPA Presidents Cup 8 goal finals
It was a hustling and bustling weekend at SBPRC, as the club put on an invitational tournament with two flights for California players in conjunction with the finals of the USPA Presidents Cup 8 goal. Ten polo games were played over the course of the weekend, and eleven teams, 256 polo ponies, forty four players, eight umpires, two flaggers, two timers, a fantastic field crew, and two Jack Russell terriers and a chihuahua all participated.
The Last Chance tournament was divided in two flights, a 2-4 goal flight and a 0-1 goal flight. Barrossa (Menlo Park), Casa de Lago (Los Angeles), and Cabinet Connection (Canada via Fresno CA) entered the upper flight. Each team had at least two family members on it, either father/ son, brothers, or in the case of the Cabinet Connection there was two brothers, a wife, and a cousin. The teams played a round robin over the course of two days. Barrossa used the experience gained in winning last year’s tournament to win the championship of the upper flight for the second time in row, beating both teams in the round robin. Cabinet Connection defeated Casa de Lago for second place. Erik Wright was awarded MVP and Chris Falk’s mare “Torta” was selected BPP
The lower flight had four teams entered so a playoff round was held to determine who would advance to the championship and consolation. On Saturday, Amazing Journey trounced Santa Barbara to advance, and Somis Polo outran Wrightway to advance as well. Then in the consolation round, Wrightway had a come from behind victory over Santa Barbara. The championship round was dominated by Somis Polo and their captain Domingo Questal, who brought the journey to an end for Amazing Journey with an 8-6 victory. Toby Mayer was chosen as MVP and Torrey Ripinsky’s mare “Chica” earned the BPP award.
In the 8 goal, the bracket play concluded on Saturday with Grants Farm defeating Gehache 16-6 and Homewood/ Casa Sombres defeating Mansour 15-5. Grants Farm and Mansour advanced to the finals on Sunday by virtue of their 2-1 records
In the USPA Presidents Cup finals, Grants Farm continued their domination of the 8 goal season in Santa Barbara with a 9-6 victory over Mansour. As they did all season, the Grants Farm players demonstrated excellent teamwork and superior horsepower to run away with the final. Santiago Wulff had five goals for Grants Farm, followed closely by Andy Busch Jr with 4 goals. Busch Jr showed steady improvement in his polo skills over the course of the season and put together a great performance for the last game.
Mansour started the game well and jumped out to an early lead due to the handicap goals and two beautiful field goals from Santiago von Wernich. However, the Grants Farm team was ready to run and soon caught up on the scoreboard and then kept right on going. Benji Soleimani tallied a nice goal in the 6th chukker for Mansour but it was not enough to push Grants Farm, and the Grants Farm foursome made it three for three on the season with the win. The team won the Harry East Memorial, Wickenden Cup, and USPA Presidents Cup and only lost one game in the entire season.
Andy Busch Jr’s horse “Flamingo” was selected Best Playing Pony and MVP was Santiago von Wernich.
In the consolation, Gehache and Homewood/ Casa Sombres were playing for pride and both teams did an admirable job. Gehache led for five and half chukkers, as they used a balanced attack to put the pressure on Homewood/ Casa Sombres and all four players scored for Gehache. But the Homewood/ Casa Sombres team pulled out all the stops in the 6th chukker to tie it up on a goal by Chris Riva, and then 11 year old Conrad Kissling, showing composure that would be the envy of a 10 goal player, calmly sank a penalty 2 to give Homewood/ Casa Sombres the last second win. Young Conrad Kissling was the hero of the game, as he was perfect on the penalty line with five penalty goals and added a field goal.
It was a great end to the Centennial season! The fields are closing for the winter at SBPRC. The club would like to thank all of the players, families, grooms, and fans who made this a spectacular season.