Travieso rallies to Sterling Cup
Strong second half helps team outscore Casablanca 13-8.
WELLINGTON — Travieso rallied in the second half to win the prestigious Sterling Cup with a 13-8 victory over Casablanca on Friday at Grand Champions Polo Club.
After being shut out in the second and third chukkers, Travieso stormed back in the second half, outscoring Casablanca 2 in the fourth and fififth chukkers.
Travieso outscored Casablanca 6-0 in the key fourth chukker to take an 8-6 lead going into the fififth chukker.
Argentine 9-goaler Sebastian Merlos scored a game-high six goals and was named Most Valuable Player. Best Playing Pony was Merlos’ 9-year-old gray mare, Fletcha, who played the fourth chukker and enabled Merlos to score four goals.
“We needed to wake up after the fifirst half; we were terrible,” Merlos said. “We were still in bed, watching them carry the ball. We needed to do what we talked about in our team meeting. It is good for Travieso to go from the low to the medium goal, and now we champion to the high goal.”
It was the season’s fifirst 20-goal tournament win for Travieso’s foursome of Tony Calle, a junior at Lynn University; Torito Ruiz, 18; Merlos; and Hugo Barabucci. Calle, 22, was the team’s second leading scorer, with four goals. Casablanca featured 9-goalers Gonzalito Pieres and Rodrigo Andrade; Grant Ganzi, a freshman at Lynn; and Harrison Azzaro, the 16-year-old son of former goaler Mike Azzaro.
“When we came back, it completely changed the momentum of the game,” Calle said. We scored all the goals we had to. Sebe pointed out very clearly what we were doing in the fifirst half, and that being the young players were too hungry for the ball and not going for the man.
“It feels great playing high goal polo and winning such a historical cup.”
In another championship match at Grand Champions, Global Student Accommodations (GSA) defeated Casablanca 13-6 to win the $50,000 National 12-Goal winner-take-all tournament. The team of Henry Porter, 17, Santino Magrini, 15, Juan Martin Zubia, 18, and Torito Ruiz, 18, is the youngest to capture the fourth annual event.
Zubia scored a game-high six goals and was named MVP. He is the youngest among past MVPs Luis Escobar, Brit Mark Tomlinson and Jesse Bray. Ruiz had fifive goals, and Magrini added two. Bray led Casablanca with four goals.
Grand Champions Polo Club extended its 20-goal season, adding the inaugural Molina Cup, which started Thursday, with top-seed Goose Creek defeating Beverly Equestrian 8-7 in the tournament opener. Today, Beverly Equestrian plays Valiente at Valiente Farm at 3 p.m., and Dutta Corp plays Casablanca at Grand Champions’ Field 3 at 30 p.m.
Also Sunday, the four- team USPA Gold Cup preliminary games continued at International Polo Club Palm Beach.
In the featured stadium match on Engel & Völkers Field, Coca-Cola took the lead early in the fourth chukker and went on to defeat Audi 11-8. Julio Arellano was named MVP. Julian de Lussaretta scored a gamehigh six goals, including four in the fifirst chukker. His horse, Cream, was Best Playing Pony.
I n t he e a rly g a me, Val i e nte defeated Orchard Hill 14-10. Matias Zavaleta and Diego Cavanagh each had fifive goals for Valiente. Facundo Pieres scored all 10 of Orchard Hill’s goals, including six penalty shots.