Arena Polo in Wellington
By Alex Webbe
Arena polo in Wellington? It’s not exactly like communists in the White House, but it isn’t the norm for the polo capital of the country.
Roberto Norvaja’s El Sur Polo Club played host Saturday night to arena polo to the delight and amusement of a healthy crowd of locals as Heronwood Farm handed the home El Sur team a resounding 10-5 drubbing under the lighted Wellington polo arena.
Heronwood Farm got off to a quick start on the strength of goals from Dominic State (2), Tommy Biddle (8) and Michael Liss (1). Two goals from El Sur’s Daniel Tognini (4) kept the game close, with Heronwood Farm on top of a 3-2 lead.
The second chukker began mush as the first did with consecutive goals from Liss, Biddle and State for a 6-2 advantage. Tognini scored for El Sur, and the first half ended with Heronwood Farm ahead 6-3.
Liss and Biddle scored the opening goals of the third chukker before Tognini got El Sur on the scoreboard again with his fourth goal of the game. Another goal from Liss was countered by a nice scoring effort from El Sur’s Roy Perry, and the period ended with Heronwood Farm holding the commanding lead of 9-5.
Both defenses tightened in the final chukker, as there were several missed scoring opportunities on both sides.
Liss scored again for Heronwood Farm and Perry tapped in the final goal for El Sur. Heronwood Farm celebrated the 10-5 win to the sounds of live music following the match as the many spectators enjoyed food and drinks into the night.
Michael Liss led all scoring with five goals for Heronwood Farm. Tommy Biddle added three and Dominic State scored twice in the win.
Daniel Tognini led the El Sur attack with four goals while Roy Perry added two goals in the loss. John Gobin was held scoreless.
The feature match of the evening was preceded by a junior’s two-chukker exhibition contest that fielded a Far Niente team of Spencer Smith, Merl Echezaretta and Ilene Valencia against a Tackeria trio of Matt Coppola, Lauren Biddle and Matias Gonzalez. Far Niente took the exhibition, 3-2.
“We were happy to have the Wellington community support us so well,” said Dominic State, El Sur’s polo manager. “We want this to grow into a family-oriented activity that serves the whole community.”
A successful debut bodes well for the club’s future, and there are a lot of anxious players and spectators waiting for more.