Feb 13, 2022 5:50 PM
Story courtesy of International Polo Club Palm Beach.
Assembling on Isla Carroll East at International Polo Club Palm Beach (IPC) in Wellington, Florida, La Indiana (Jeff Hall, Lucas "Luckitas" Criado Jr., Mariano Aguerre, Stewart Armstrong) finally made their debut in the C.V. Whitney Cup® against Cessna (Will Johnston, Raul "Gringo" Colombres, Miguel Novillo Astrada, Edward "Camp" Campbell). Playing an evenly matched, open style of polo, the high-scoring affair came down to the final chukker with Criado Jr. making the difference converting five open goal penalties to lift La Indiana over Cessna 14-11.
Playing together for the first time this season, La Indiana’s Criado Jr. wasted little time working with his new teammates to find the scoreboard. Cessna, who fell to SD Farms in their first match of the tournament, surrendered five penalty goals in their first loss and quickly found themselves back in foul trouble sending Criado Jr. to the line for two successful penalty conversions. Despite a strong response from Cessna’s Colombres and Novillo Astrada, La Indiana’s situational awareness from captain Aguerre to draw a Penalty 1, allowed La Indiana to take a 5-4 lead into halftime.
After a successful first half controlling ball possession, La Indiana’s Criado Jr. was back on the line to begin the fourth chukker with back-to-back conversions to increase the lead to three. The pace of play continued to slow with the teams exchanging penalty goals as Astrada began Cessna’s comeback attempt. Leading his team’s attack with four second half goals, including three from the penalty line, Astrada breathed life into Cessna’s offense along with the strong play of Campbell, as the game quickly became a close contest with Cessna trailing by just one entering the sixth chukker.
Criado Jr. and Astrada traded goals in the opening moments of the sixth chukker but with the game on the line, Criado Jr. stepped back onto the penalty line and sent the ball through the posts for a crucial goal that extended La Indiana’s lead to two. A final field goal capped off Criado Jr.’s outstanding nine-goal performance and secured the 14-11 victory for La Indiana in an impressive 2022 debut.
All photos courtesy of ©David Lominska.
Effective Date: Saturday, May 16, 2020
The suspension of USPA Tournaments and Events will be lifted for USPA Member Clubs in locales where hosting polo matches and tournaments is permitted under applicable state and local laws, executive orders and similar decrees. The USPA Member Clubs in these locales are encouraged to follow all such requirements of their state and local authorities with respect to polo operations. In addition, we also encourage all USPA Member Clubs to take the precautions recommended by the CDC. We are preparing a detailed list of best practices for USPA Member Clubs as they return to hosting USPA Tournaments and Events and plan to circulate these guidelines within the next week. We will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation closely and will notify you if we determine a different course of action is necessary.
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