US
Polo team named for Westchester Cup
By
Alex Webbe
Well, the suspense is over. The United States team that will be meeting
England for the Westchester Cup has been announced. The team will consist of Marc Ganzi (1), Polito
Pieres (9), Nic Roldan (8), and Mike Azzaro (8) and will total 26-goals. Miguel Novillo Astrada has been named as the
teams coach with Julian Hipwood serving as the assistant coach.
A 28-goal English team will field Mark Tomlinson (6),
James Beim (7), John Paul Clarkin (8) and Luke Tomlinson (7). The US will receive two goals by handicap.
The match is scheduled to be played on Sunday, July 28 at
the Guards Polo Club, and will be the first time the cup has been played in
England in 16 years.
The Westchester Cup is the oldest international
competition in the sport, dating back to 1886, and currently rests in the hands
of England. Originally played as a
best-of-three series, England won the initial two competitions against
fledgling US teams that were just getting the hang of the game, but went on to
dominate, winning 10 of the next 13 meetings.
The Westchester Cup was last played as a best-of-three
series in 1939, and has only been played for three times since. Over the course of those three games, the
United States won once (1992) and England won twice (1997 and 2009).
Through the efforts of the USPA, this year’s Westchester
Cup is scheduled to be aired on NBC Sports Network on Sunday, August 11, EDT.