Jan 11, 2022 5:00 AM
Four teams assembled from December 28 to January 2, to compete for the Border Circuit Congressional Cup at the Costa Careyes Polo Club (Jalisco, Mexico), located three miles South of the picturesque Costa Careyes Resort, overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
The first semifinal matchup between La Karina (Patrick Boyd, Brian Boyd, Carlitos Gracida, Benito Hernandez) and Mango Polo (Becky Gonzalez, Juan Jose Gonzalez, Nico Millan, Mariano Fassetta) ping-ponged back-and-forth, La Karina ultimately emerging on top 8-7 to claim the first spot in the final.
Next on the field was Cabinet Connection (Will Falk, Chris Falk, Conrad Kissling, Carlos Hernandez) against Guadalajara/Agua Alta (Guillermo Jimenez, Milo Ardissone, Joel Acosta, Guillermo Li), where an effective offensive effort saw Cabinet Connection breeze to a 7-3 victory.
In front of a lively crowd, the anticipated Border Circuit Congressional Cup Final kicked-off with a .5 handicap awarded to La Karina. Gracida started the scoring early for La Karina with back-to-back goals, only to be answered by Cabinet Connection’s Carlos Hernandez with his first goal of the match. Benito Hernandez opened the second chukker with two more goals for La Karina, and despite Kissling adding one more to the scoreboard for Cabinet Connection, La Karina took the 4-2 lead into halftime.
Emerging from the half, Hernandez took control with an additional two goals, accounting for all Cabinet Connection scoring in the chukker. Each team added another goal to the scoreboard in the final chukker, but as time expired the .5 handicap awarded to La Karina made all the difference, sealing their Border Circuit Congressional Cup victory 5.5-5.
Carlitos Gracida was named Most Valuable Player, while Best Playing Pony was awarded to Rena, a black mare played and owned by Carlos Hernandez. USPA Global donated team jerseys worn throughout the tournament.
All photos courtesy of ©Katie Falk.
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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