WELLINGTON, Fla., March 17, 2024---The Polo School held off Bushwood Pink to win the Metropolitan 6-Goal Cup Friday at Santa Rita Polo Farm's Aspen Field.
By Sharon Robb
Photos by Candace Ferreira
The Polo School (Rebecca Cohen, -1, Artemio Figueras, 1, Facha Valent, 3, Juan Bollini, 3) came from behind to defeat Bushwood Pink (Jen Buchan, -1, Scott Sorbaro, 0, Santiago Mayano, 2, Kris Kampsen, 6), 4.5-4, to win the four-team tournament.
Artemio Figueras, who scored three goals including the game-winner, was Most Valuable Player.
Dirty Sanchez, a 7-year-old American thoroughbred, owned and played by Kampsen in the third chukker, was Best Playing Pony. It was her second BPP blanket awarded at Grand Champions.
In the consolation game, Pony Express (Drew Quagliano, -1, Justin Daniels, 2, Santos Bollini, 2, Benji Daniels, 1.5) defeated Rafool Polo (Meredith Lovegrove, -1, Ray Rafool, -1, Garrett Smith, 2, Sugar Erskine, 5), 4-2.
It was the second time The Polo School defeated Bushwood Pink in the month-long tournament. In their first meeting, The Polo School defeated Bushwood Pink in the season-opener, 7-5.5. Figueras scored a game-high five goals including a 120-yard insurance goal in the closing seconds.
In Friday's game, Figueras scored the opening goal with 5:36 left in the first chukker for a 1.5-0 lead. Three minutes later, Sorbaro scored and Kampsen converted a 40-yard penalty to lead 2-1.5 going into the second chukker.
After Kampsen stopped a potential Bollini goal just in front of the goal mouth and The Polo School missed a penalty attempt, Valent scored the only goal of the chukker to give The Polo School back the lead, 2.5-2.
The seesaw battled continued in the third chukker with Mayano scoring at the 6:10 mark to give Bushwood Pink a 3-2.5 lead. Both teams had scoring opportunities for the rest of the chukker including Kampsen's 40-yard penalty conversion bouncing off the goal post.
Figueras hit a neck shot with four minutes left to give The Polo School a 3.5-3 lead. A minute later, he scored again for a 4.5-3 advantage. Kampsen hit Sorbaro who scored in the final minute to trail 4.5-4. Bushwood Pink had one final shot at regaining the lead but a goal attempt went wide.
For Cohen, an accomplished dressage professional, it was her first tournament victory in polo. Cohen is a Polo School student.
In last year's 6-goal final, Orea Polo (Petra Sobotova, -1, Finn Secunda, 1, Justin Daniels 2, Matias Busquet) rallied in the final minute to win its first tournament of the winter polo season.
Orea Polo edged the Polo School (Meredith Lovegrove, -1, Santos Bollini, 2, Alex Webb, 2, Juan Bollini, 3), 3-2. Busquet, who scored the game-winner with 1:04 left in regulation, was MVP. Orquideo, a 6-year-old homebred stallion, played by Daniels, was selected Best Playing Pony.