Henry S. Miller defeated CMC 11-10 in the finals of the 2nd leg of the Triple Crown of Polo at the Las Colinas Polo Club in Dallas on Sunday, June 25 in what proved to be one of the most exciting games ever played at Las Colinas.
These two teams had fought hard just to reach the finals with 2 wins and 1 loss each, advancing past teams Intergame and Mokarow Farms on net goals. The finals was a rematch of sorts of last’s year Triple Crown of Polo finals in Dallas, however some of the players were not the same. Vaughn Miller, Henry S. Miller’s 1-goal patron, re-organized his team by keeping Pelon Escapite (5) and adding Brent Mirikitani (4) and Will Tankard (2). CMC’s patron, Jesse Pruitt, sat out of the game due to an injury, and kept his same core team of last year, Francisco Bilbao (6) and Billy Mudra (4), but added Rob Payne (1) and Ben Krueger (1) as his replacement.
Henry S. Miller jumped out to a 2 goal lead early in the game and kept it though the 1st four chukkers. However, CMC was relentless and fought back to tie the game in the 5th chukker. The 6th chukker turned out to be one of the most exciting ever witnessed at Las Colinas. CMC scored twice on fouls to lead the game by 2 and with time running out it looked as if they would repeat their win of last year. Then with less than 40 seconds to go Henry S. Miller’s Pelon Escapite missed a critical foul shot but as if to redeem himself, he quickly stole the ball from CMC on the subsequent knock-in and scored with 30 seconds left on the clock. Then with only 5 second left Henry S. Miller’s Brent Mirikitani scored an amazing backshot to tie the game as the clock ran down to 0. It appeared that the game would go into overtime when CMC’s team drew a red flag and gave Henry S. Miller a penalty 5 shot from midfield and put 5 seconds back on the clock. Mirkitani took the shot and ran to goal and drew a penalty 3 from CMC. Mirikitani then scored a high pressure penalty shot with only 1 second left on the clock to win the game.
The finals game included a field side luxury pavilion with wonderful food by Abacus and Jaspers restaurants, a live salsa band and kids corner; it culminated a weekend of festivities that included a “Black and White Ball ” fundraiser at Prestonwood Country Club which grossed over $16,000 for the Polo Training Foundation.
It will air on ESPN2, Sunday, September 17th – 1:00 PM EST, Tuesday, September 19th – 12:30 PM EST, Sunday, October 22nd – 1:00 PM EST and, Tuesday, October 24th – 2:30 PM EST.
For more information go to www.LasColinasPolo.com or www.OakPointPolo.com