The Joe Barry Memorial Cup kicked off on Saturday at the International Polo Club Palm Beach with a single game on the opening matchday and two matches on Sunday, including the Sunday Game where Travieso beat Pilot.
VILLA DEL LAGO/MODERE 7-6 COLORADO
Intense opening game for the tournament, slow scoring during the whole match, practically, and the game went to overtime. More than six minutes into the extra chukker Hilario Ulloa made a good run and scored his fifth in the afternoon to give Villa Del Lago/Modere the first win of the competition.
Villa del Lago/Modere: Josh Daniels A, Agustin Obregon 5 (1 goal), Hilario Ulloa 10 (5), Jared Zenni 5 (1).
Colorado: Rob Jornayvaz 1 (1), Mariano Gracida 4 (1), Juan Britos 7 (2), Magoo Laprida 8 (2).
Score Villa del Lago/Modere: 1-2, 1-3, 2-3, 3-6, 4-6, 6-6, 7-6.
LA INDIANA 10-7 COCA-COLA
Earlier on Sunday, La Indiana scored four unanswered goals in the fifth chukker with goals from each player (Michael Bickford, Toro Ruiz, Jeff Hall and Facundo Obregon) en route to a 10-7 victory over Coca-Cola.
La Indiana: Michael Bickford 2 (1 goal), Toro Ruiz 5 (2), Jeff Hall 7 (5), Facundo Obregon 6 (2).
Coca-Cola: Gillian Johnston 2, Sugar Erskine 6 (1), Julio Arellano 8 (5), Steve Krueger 4 (1).
Score La Indiana: 0-2, 2-3, 4-4, 5-6, 9-6, 10-7.
TRAVIESO 13-11 PILOT
Nine-goaler Sebastian Merlos scored nine goals as Travieso held off Pilot 13-11. It was the tournament debut for both teams. Travieso led the entire game, including 7-3 at halftime as Merlos scored three consecutive goals, two on breakaways, and a 30-yard penalty shot with 47 seconds remaining. The Ecuador-based Travieso extended its lead to six goals twice in the fourth chukker, before Pilot mounted a comeback.
“I’m happy about it,” said Merlos. “This is a brand new team and it turned out really well.”
Ten-goaler Facundo Pieres converted five penalty shots and his brother Gonzalito added another to cut the margin 11-10 with 3:03 left in the game. But Merlos countered with a 60-yard penalty comversion with 2:24 left to give Travieso a 12-10 advantage.
“It was very exciting,” said Tony Calle, who played well defensively against the Pieres brothers. “We didn’t think it was going to be easy. My mission was to take them out of the play or delay them as long as I could.”
The players were happy with the new field conditions, featuring new TifTuf Bermuda grass that was installed over the summer. The innovative grass turf is the first of its kind for high-goal polo and requires less water and fertilizer to withstand the demands of play.
Travieso: Teo Calle 1 (1 goal), Tony Calle 3 (1), Sebastian Merlos 9 (9), Tomas Garcia de Rio 7 (2).
Pilot: Curtis Pilot 0, Timmy Dutta 1 (1), Gonzalito Pieres 9 (3), Facundo Pieres 10 (7).
Score Travieso: 1-1, 4-2, 7-3, 11-5, 11-8, 13-11.
MVP: Sebastian Merlos.
BPP: Pipi.
The Joe Barry Memorial Cup will continue on Monday with the following order of play:
3pm: Grand Champions Polo Club vs SD Farms
All matches will be streamed live on Pololine TV via USPolo.org.