Audi Makes IPC Season Debut Thursday In Ylvisaker Cup Opener |
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Audi will make its 20-goal season debut Thursday in the Ylvisaker Cup at International Polo Club Palm Beach.
By Sharon RobbThe new team of father and son Marc Ganzi, 2, and Grant Ganzi, 2, Nico Pieres, 8, and Nic Roldan, 8, will play Pilot at 3 p.m. Marc Ganzi and Nic Roldan are making their season debut.
Pilot (Curtis Pilot, A, Timmy Dutta, 1, Facundo Pieres, 10, and Gonzalito Pieres, 9), making its 20-goal season debut this year, is coming off winning the Bobby Barry Cup subsidiary after a slow start in the Joe Barry Cup.
Audi is one of 13 teams competing, one less than last year. The tournament features four 10-goal players: Hilario Ulloa, Facundo Pieres, Sapo Caset and Adolfo Cambiaso, making his season debut.
Play will play cross-bracket with Bracket One playing against Bracket Two and Bracket Three against Bracket Four. The teams are:
Bracket One:
Tonkawa: Jeff Hildebrand, A, Julian de Lussareta, 7, Sapo Caset, 10, Sterling Giannico/Cody Ellis, 3.
Postage Stamp Farm: Annabelle Gundlach, A, Brandon Phillips, 5, Mariano Aguerre, 9, TBA, 6.
Valiente: Bob Jornayvaz, 2, Adolfo Cambiaso, 10, Santi Torres, 6, Bautista Panelo, 2.
Bracket Two:
GSA: Henry Porter, 2, Mariano Gonzalez, 7, Matias Magrini, 7, TBA, 4.
Travieso: Tony Calle, 3, Teo Calle, 1, Sebastian Merlos, 9, Tomas Garcia del Rio, 7.
Coca-Cola: Gillian Johnston, 2, Sugar Erskine, 6, Julio Arellano, 8, Steve Kruger, 4.
Bracket Three:
SD Farms: Sayyu Dantata, 2, Adam Snow, 5, Inaki Laprida, 7, Peco Polledo, 6.
Pilot: Curtis Pilot, A, Facundo Pieres, 10, Gonzalito Pieres, 9, Timmy Dutta, 1.
Prestige Worldwide: Will Johnston, 2, Stevie Orthwein, 4, Miguel Novillo Astrada, 9, Carlucho Arellano, 5.
Bracket Four:
Colorado: Robert Jornayvaz, 1, Juan Britos, 7, Diego Cavanaugh, 9, Santino Magrini, 3.
La Indiana: Michael Bickford, 2, Victorino Ruiz, 5, Facundo Obregon, 6, Jeff Hall, 7.
Audi: Grant Ganzi, 2, Marc Ganzi, 2, Nico Pieres, 8, Nic Roldan, 8.
Modere: Jim Zenni, A, Agustin Obregon, 5, Hilario Ulloa, 10, Jared Zenni, 5.
Grant Ganzi and Nico Pieres are coming off the Joe Barry Cup playing for Grand Champions Polo Club. The pair along with teammates Mike Azzaro and Juancito Bollini lost their final bracket game to Pilot, 15-12, and finished 1-3.
Pilot finished the tournament with a 3-3 record including winning the Bobby Barry Cup subsidiary tournament where they came from behind for a 12-9 victory over Goose Creek in the final. Tied 9-9 going into the final chukker, 10-goaler Facundo Pieres scored two goals and Gonzalito Pieres scored another to put the game out of reach. Gonzalito Pieres finished with six goals and MVP Facundo Pieres had five.
“Today was our best game,” Gonzalito Pieres said after the game. “It’s good that we won and we have another tournament coming up. If our team plays like it did today, we will be good. We are having fun and that’s important.”
In last year’s Ylvisaker Cup final, Coca-Cola rallied for a 9-8 victory over Tonkawa. Coca-Cola’s Wes Finlayson, Julian de Lussareta, Julio Arellano and Gillian Johnston dedicated the game to 17-year-old Donovan Strateman, tragically killed in a polo accident. De Lusarreta was Most Valuable Player. Mt. Brilliant defeated Goose Creek, 11-10, to win the George Haas Cup subsidiary.
The prestigious Ylvisaker Cup, established in 2003, is named after visionary business leader and lifelong polo enthusiast Bill Ylvisaker.
Ylvisaker, a former captain of the Yale polo team, founded the Palm Beach Polo and Country Club. He created the Polo Training Foundation to teach and develop young polo players.
Ylvisaker was a 7-goal rated player and won three U.S. Opens, two Coronation Cups against England and Australia, Gold Cup and four national 20-goal championships. He was chairman of the U.S. Polo Association (1970-75) and inducted into the Polo Hall of Fame in 1994. He died February 5, 2010 at age 85.
USPA Polo Network is live streaming the IPC winter season, including the entire Ylvisaker Cup with content from Wellington-based ChukkerTV.
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