Hello polo fans!
Yesterday was a lot of good news and a tiny bit of bad news for USA. Our team not only improved tremendously but showed why we qualified to be here. Playing against one of the most disciplined polo teams I have seen in a long time, England – who crushed Chile in their first game, our boys frustrated them by exceeding their level of discipline.
The first chukker set the tone for the rest of the game with both teams playing incredible defense. This defensive pressure caused many missed opportunities for both teams offensively, leaving the score 1-1 at the end of the first chukker. The next two chukkers, like the first, were thrilling with some of the best teamwork both offensively and defensively that I have witnessed in a long time. With the level of play and the score being 3-3 at halftime, as a coach the only thing I could say was “keep it up!”
The fourth chukker we outscored the English 2 to 1, allowing us to pull ahead 5-4. The fifth chukker was another great back and forth chukker, unfortunately a couple of missed opportunities on our side and a penalty in their favor allowed England to tie the game.
In the sixth chukker is when the heartbreak occurred. Even though our boys were giving it everything they had, it was England who got a couple lucky breaks allowing them to take and hold the lead by 2 goals in the final 2 minutes of the game.
With all eight players competing well above their current handicaps, with the exception of the level of the horses, it seemed like it was a much higher handicapped game. Our Captain, John Gobin, led the team by example, masterfully stealing balls from opposing team players and using all his teammates when passing the ball. Chris Collins showed everyone what it is to selfishly sacrifice your body for the team by taking out as many men as he could in every play. Nick Snow used his tremendous athletic ability to put the pressure both physically and mentally on the whole other team. In my opinion, the MVP of all 8 players on the field was Mason Wroe. He took on the challenge of a new position at back, and seemingly controlled the game both offensively and defensively.
You may be thinking to yourself, “if they played so well then how did they lose?”, but that is where the heartbreak comes in because I feel that we lost the game, they didn’t win it. At the level in which this game was played it only takes a few mistakes to end up with a loss. In my last blog I said that our first game would be one that I would revisit many times, this will also be a game that as a coach I will never forget – but for different reasons.
Yesterday, I was very proud of these four men for not only how they bounced back, but how they represented our fine country.
GO USA!!!
Coach Muldoon