POLO: THE U.S. OPEN IS UNDERWAY

The International Polo Club in Palm Beach (Wellington, FL) was the site as professional polo’s U.S. Open for 2015 got underway. Eight teams compete for the championship. FOR BALLADEER’S BLOG’S QUICK PRIMER ON POLO CLICK HERE:  https://glitternight.com/2015/03/23/polo-is-joining-balladeers-blogs-sports-coverage/

GAME ONE – COCA COLA vs LAS MONJITAS. For those readers who say they can’t get into sports where the teams have corporate names Balladeer’s Blog will also coin unofficial nicknames for them. Think of Coca Cola as the Red Colossus for obvious reasons and for the Las Monjitas restaurant chain, consider them the Little Nuns (the literal translation of Las Monjitas).  

Defense was the story in the 1st Chukker, which ended in a 1-1 tie, but Las Monjitas had taken a 4-3 lead as the 2nd Chukker came to a close. When Chukker number 3 was in the books the Red Colossus had come back to knot the score up at 5-5 to head into Halftime.

The theme of low scoring for a polo match continued in the 4th Chukker, with Eduardo Novillo Astrada scoring the only goal to put Las Monjitas back on top by a count of 6-5.

Julio Arellano of the Red Colossus scored the only two goals of the 5th Chukker, giving his team its first lead of the game at 7-6.

In the 6th and final Chukker Coca Cola made it an 8-6 game but Las Monjitas refused to give up, tying the score at 8-8. With 30 seconds left to play in Regulation Pelon Stirling shot in the winning goal for Coke off a defensive backshot from Las Monjitas’ Facundo Sola.

The Red Colossus notched a 9-8 comeback win, with Julio Arellano leading their team with 7 goals while Facundo Sola led Las Monjitas with 5 goals.  

GAME TWO – AUDI vs FLEXJET – For Audi we’ll go with the Audi Bavarians and for Flexjet how about the Flexjet Aviators? In this game the scoring got back to normal for a polo match with both teams hitting double-digit goals. The Bavarians defeated the Aviators 11-10.  

GAME THREE – ORCHARD HILL vs VALIENTE – Think of Orchard Hill as the Clubmen and Valiente as the Valiants. Orchard Hill won the first notch of Polo’s Triple Crown by taking the C.V .Whitney Cup in early March. The Clubmen defeated the Valiants 15-14.  

GAME FOUR – ALEGRIA vs LECHUZA CARACAS – The Alegria Cantinas, maybe? Lechuza Caracas would definitely be the White Owls since that what Lechuza means. The White Owls won in  Sudden Death Overtime (Golden Goal) by a final score of 13-12. Games resume on Wednesday as Valiente takes on Las Monjitas.

* BRING BACK POLO AS AN OLYMPIC EVENT! *