Photo credit to David Lominska
The final of the USPA Intra-Circuit 12 goal at Santa Barbara Polo Club was a flying finish to a great season. Cotterel Polo Team took home the trophy in a come from behind victory, winning 10-9 over Mansour. Cotterel Polo team qualified for all four finals in the 12 goal series, winning the first one (Lisle Nixon Memorial) as well as the Intra-Circuit.
Winners: “Cotterel” Charles Ward, Ruben Coscia, Luis Sacarro, Steven Nakash of Jordache, Ignacio Sacarro, Jennie Luttrell
Mansour and Cotterel dominated the month of June, facing each other in the Vic Graber Cup earlier this month. Mansour won that tournament, and early in the game it looked they would win the Intra-Circuit as well, jumping out to an early lead behind the consistent penalty shooting of Santiago von Wernich. Luis Saracco revived Cotterel with back to back goals in the 2nd chukker, and the teams finished the first half with Mansour holding on to a slim one goal lead.
In the fourth chukker the close teamwork of the two Santis, von Wernich and Wulff, bedeviled the Cotterel team and set up several penalty shots for Mansour, resulting in a three goal lead for Mansour at 8-5. For the month of June, Mansour had been unbeatable once they got ahead in the 2nd half, and it looked like Cotterel might be playing the bridesmaid role once again.
But Cotterel just would not quit. The Cotterel players held Mansour scoreless in the 5th, playing tough man to man defense, and then Ruben Coscia scored an incredible penalty 6 (safety) that was teed up about 10 yards off the sideboards. A few plays later, Luis Saracco set up team captain Jenny Luttrell for a key goal on the ocean end, Luttrell outran the defensive player to make the score and turn the momentum in Cotterel’s favor heading into the crucial 6th chukker.
However, Mansour wasn’t giving in easy, and after several back to back runs Santiago Wulff went coast to coast with a player on his hip to score and give Mansour a 2 goal cushion. Luis Saracco scored right away on the ensuing bowl in to keep Cotterel even, then Ruben Coscia made a penalty 4 to tie things up. It was looking like OT, and the crowd would have been happy to see these two great teams keep playing. But with a minute and change left, Ignacio Saracco cleverly wove his way through a crowd in the corner, dribbled along the end line, and scored to give Cotterel the lead and the victory. So Cotterel team captain Jenny Luttrell, the girl who learned to play polo in the arena program at CSU, who rides her own set out on exercise every morning, led her team to victory in the biggest tournament of the 12 goal season, and did it with a smile on her face and a kind word for everyone at the club.
Luis Saracco, who scored 4 goals and made a lot of key passes to his teammates, was named MVP. Santiago Wulff’s speedy chestnut mare Requesona, a 9 year old American thoroughbred, was selected as BPP.
The consolation was won by Lucchese, Film Finances was 2nd and FMB was 3rd.
After the game the Cotterel players commented that horse management was key to the making it to all four 12 goal finals and to winning the Intra-Circuit especially. Earlier in the week, Luis Saracco was honored with the “Best String” award for the season and Ruben Coscia was selected as “Season MVP.” The Sportsmanship award was given to Dan Horn, who played on Long Beach/ Palm Desert team and FMB.
The general consensus was that the 12 goal season was the best in the years, with great polo and fun people. SBPRC is closed for a week, and then in July polo resumes with the 20 goal season.