Friday night UVA Men reigned supreme over University of Kentucky with a score of 25 to 1, followed by a resounding victory Sunday over Cornell, winning 28 to 8 in the finals and landing them in first place for the tournament. All the team played well, with many successful foul shots from Brennan Wells while Jack McLean secured the ball out of the line up over and over. Parker Pearce used his ponies’ major bumping power to thwart the opponents and sent some nice shots to goal and first year Vlad Tarashansky made his debut in the Friday night game.
The UVA women started the tournament strong, defeating the University of South Carolina Aiken on Friday. Fourth year Maddie Grant scored a whopping 19 points towards this victory! Liz Owens played tough defense holding the USCA girls at bay with help from Grace Burgert. First year Alana Benz launched her intercollegiate polo career in the fourth chukker scoring goal after goal to bring the lady Cavaliers to a final score of 29 to 4.
Sunday the UVA women lost a hard-fought battle to the University of Kentucky, 13 to 15, despite numerous accurate foul shots from Maddie Grant. The score stayed close throughout all four chukkers, but Kentucky sealed the win with 2 goals in the last few minutes on the clock.
UVA players and ponies left the tournament highly decorated with Jack McLean, Brennan Wells and Maddie Grant receiving All-Star Awards, and Jack also earning the Horsemanship Award. The UVA ponies were recognized for their skills winning: a Best Playing Pony Award for Viuda and Best Playing String Awards to the UVA Men’s String A: Dumptruck, Minnie, Mary, Sorpresa, Viuda, Glizzy and Red and to the UVA Women’s String A: Mosenita, Legendaria, Whiskey, Lolita, Bumbai, Galleta, and Cracker.
