NEWS

Story courtesy of the International Polo Club Palm Beach

The final day of bracket play before reseeding in the 2021 C.V. Whitney Cup® saw La Indiana (Nico Escobar*, Jeff Hall, Polito Pieres, Michael Bickford) defeat Aspen/Dutta Corp (Timmy Dutta*, Matias Torres Zavaleta, Gringo Colombres, Stewart Armstrong) 17-13 in a high-scoring game. They joined Scone as the only two undefeated teams headed into the shootout.

La Indiana received a tough challenge and were trailing Aspen/Dutta Corp at halftime, but they ignited their offense to score 12 second-half goals on the way to victory. With the return of Bickford, Escobar and Hall moved forward in the game and provided a formidable duo, scoring six goals each on 77% shooting from the field. After scoring just three goals in their opening game, Aspen/Dutta Corp’s offense came alive with their trio of Armstrong, Colombres and Zavaleta feeding Dutta on runs to goal as he finished with six goals of his own. Ultimately Aspen/Dutta Corp could not slow down La Indiana’s effective offense and conceded the victory 17-13.

Making an immediate impact in his first game of the season, Bickford opened the scoring for La Indiana, but goals were hard to come by for the remainder of the first and second chukkers. Aspen/Dutta Corp’s offense continued to struggle around goal, managing just two penalty conversions with La Indiana standing tall on their own goal line. A goal each from Hall and Escobar gave La Indiana the narrow 4-2 lead after the second chukker, but the pace instantly changed towards the end of the first half. In a complete team effort Aspen/Dutta Corp finally found their footing, scoring four unanswered goals to end the first half, all four players contributing to the scoreboard to give the team the 6-5 lead at halftime.

Facing their first deficit of the game, La Indiana’s Polito Pieres provided a quick response to start the second half and tie the game 6-all. However it was short lived as Aspen/Dutta Corp continued to hold the momentum, adding back-to-back goals from Colombres and Zavaleta. With few stoppages from the umpire’s whistle in the second half, the pace increased and favored La Indiana as they finished the fourth chukker leading by one after two more goals from Pieres. The duo of Hall and Escobar took over to extend La Indiana’s lead over Aspen/Dutta Corp, scoring the first three goals of the fifth chukker and completing a run of six straight goals that left Aspen/Dutta Corp with a five-goal deficit. A determined Colombres began the final chukker trying to lead his team back into the game with two goals, but ultimately the inability to slow La Indiana’s attack resulted in the 17-13 defeat.

All nine teams entered a shootout beginning with La Indiana facing Scone for the top seed to advance directly into the semifinals. La Indiana was victorious, slotting Scone into the second seed, where they will face Aspen/Dutta Corp after they lost their shootout with Cessna. The remaining five teams holding a 1-1 record competed for the final seeding with Park Place winning to capture the number three seed, followed by Coca-Cola, Pilot, Tonkawa and Santa Clara.

The C.V. Whitney Cup® resumes with the third round of play on Saturday, February 27, beginning with Coca-Cola playing Santa Clara at 10:00am ET and followed by Cessna challenging Park Place at 3:00pm ET.

*Nico Escobar and Timmy Dutta are Active Team USPA Members. Team USPA is a USPA program designed to enhance and grow the sport of polo in the United States by identifying young, talented American players and providing mentored training and playing opportunities leading to a pool of higher rated amateur and pro players and the resultant giveback to the sport of polo.