USPA East Coast Open

By Arianna Delin, Sharon Robb

Audi, one of the most dominant polo teams in the last decade, is one game away from the championship final of the USPA East Coast Open.

Standing in its way is upset-minded Airstream in Wednesday’s semifinal game at 4 p.m. at Greenwich Polo Club.

Audi (2-1), with a semifinal berth already clinched after winning its first two games, is the No. 2 seed after losing to host team White Birch, 13-9, on Sunday.

Audi (Marc Ganzi, Juancito Bollini, Nic Roldan, Miguel Novillo Astrada) hopes to bounce back against No. 3 seed Airstream (Peter Orthwein, Guille Aguero, Matias Magrini, Michel Dorignac).

Audi teammates Miguel Novillo Astrada, Nic Roldan, Juancito Bollini, Marc Ganzi. Photo by Chi Chi Ubina

In the other semifinal, top-seed and undefeated White Birch (Santino Magrini, Hilario Ulloa, Mariano Aguerre, Peter Brant) plays KIG (Bash Kazi, Valerio Zubiaurre, Mariano Obregon, Pelon Escapite) in Wednesday’s opener at 10 a.m.

KIG, the No. 4 seed, advanced when McLaren Greenwich rallied and knocked off Turkish Air, 12-11, in Sunday’s featured game.

Four-goaler Joaquin Panelo, 21, of Turkish Airlines was named Most Valuable Player. Machitos Clo Clo, ridden by Nick Manifold of McLaren Greenwich, was Best Playing Pony.

“Hopefully, my dad was watching in Argentina,” Panelo said.

Audi, competing in its first major tournament in the Northeast, would like to forget Sunday’s loss. Audi, which looked impressive and aggressive in its 11-6 win over KIG and 14-9 victory over Turkish Airlines, had one of its worst games against White Birch.

Nic Roldan of Audi puts the bump on Santino Magrini of White Birch.  Photo by Chi Chi Ubina

In a hotly-contested, penalty-marred game that featured 21 first-half fouls (11 by White Birch, 10 by Audi), Audi could never maintain its rhythm or cohesiveness despite rallying with five consecutive goals in the third and fourth chukkers.

In the fourth chukker, Audi tied the game (7-7) and took the lead (8-7) for the first time, both on penalty-two conversions.  

White Birch regained its composure and regained the lead (9-8) late in the fifth chukker and never trailed after that.

Novillo Astrada led Audi scoring with six goals, all on penalty shots. Roldan added two and Ganzi had one. Ulloa had a game-high nine goals including five on penalty shots. Aguerre had four goals.

Audi teammates Juancito Bollini and Marc Ganzi double team Hilario Ulloa of White Birch. Photo by Chi Chi Ubina

Audi, the tournament’s luxury automotive sponsor, was part of the opening ceremony in the Sunday featured game and brought both teams to the post-game award ceremonies. The cars are also on display at the games. Actor Luke Wilson presented the awards.

Chukker TV live-streamed all preliminary matches and will live stream Wednesday’s semifinals.

NBC Sports Network will air a 60-minute national broadcast of the Sept. 6 final on Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. with drone aerials provided by ChukkerTV. ChukkerTV is also supplying instant replays for team challenges which were used on Sunday in both games.

Toby Wayman and Dale Schwetz, the voices of ChukkerTV, are providing play-by-play, color analysis and commentary.

Audi’s Nic Roldan goes for the big hit as teammate Miguel Novillo Astrada takes Hilario Ulloa of White Birch out of the play. Photo by Chi Chi Ubina

The East Coast Open began in 1905 in Rhode Island and was played until World War I. It was resurrected in 1978 by former USPA President Donald Little at the Myopia Polo Club in South Hamilton, Mass. White Birch padron Peter Brant started hosting the tournament in the early 2000’s at Greenwich Polo Club.