USPA Intra-Circuit 12 goal
The very best of 12 goal and ladies polo was on display this weekend at Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club. Can-can showed they can indeed with a dominating win in the finals of the USPA Intra-Circuit 12 goal and Estancia Ventarron won a fast paced 3 goal ladies tournament
The WCT tournament, in support of Girls Inc, featured 4 teams: Edelweiss, RRT, Estancia Ventarron and Blanco. Two teams of junior players, La Martina and La Margarita, also competed in the Junior invitational on Saturday
In the first round, Blanco defeated Edelweiss 7-4 and Estancia Ventarron defeated RRT 6.5 to 6. In the final, Estancia Ventarron and Blanco played a close game until the 4th chukker, when Estancia Ventarron went on a 3-0 run to make the final score 7-4 in favor of Estancia Ventarron. MVP was Kate Weber, BPP was “Fantasy” played by Sunny Hale and owned by Mike and Geannie Sheller, and Sportmanship Award went to Claudia Uretz.
The 12 goal USPA Intra-Circuit tournament was incredibly hard fought, with many of the games going to overtime or 1 goal differences, and the road to the final was long and tough, as each team had to play every other team in bracket play. Dark Horse and Can-can showed a lot of grit and pony power to survive the long road of bracket play and arrive at the final of the biggest 12 goal tournament of the season
In the final, Sara Rotman’s Dark Horse team started out strong, scoring 4 goals in the 2nd chukker between Max Menini and Michel Dorignac, to jump out to an early 4-2 lead. Can-can got their balanced offense rolling in the 3rd chukker though, as Santi Trotz set the example for his teammates with a well executed field goal, and the speedy youngsters Marianito Gracida and Jesse Bray followed suit with goals to make the score 5-4 at halftime in favor of Can-can. In the 4th chukker, Can-can really started dancing all over the field, as the choreographed play and non-stop hustle of the Can-can team resulted in 4 unanswered goals for Can-can and huge 9-4 lead. Dark Horse kept on fighting but Can-can easily held on to the lead and won the final with a score of 14-8
BPP was “Paolina” for Santiago Trotz, the handy chestnut mare made many keys plays in the crucial 4th chukker for Trotz.
MVP was Marianito Gracida, who scored 5 goals and played with a maturity beyond his years in the final.