The Tackeria (Lauren Biddle, Juancito Bollini, Matt Coppola and Lorenzo Merlotti) captured the first USPA National Youth Polo Regional Tournament Tuesday afternoon in a hard-fought 4-3 win over a strong Far Niente (Gonzalo Di Cuircio, Agustin Arellano, Michael Bellissimo and Wesley Finlayson) entry on the Everglades Field in Wellington.
Matt Coppola scored the first goal of the game on a penalty conversion to give The Tackeria an early 1-0 lead. Far Niente fired back with a penalty shot from Gonzalo Di Cuircio and a goal from the field from Agustin Arellano to end the first chukker with Far Niente on top of a 2-1 score.
Both teams ramped up their defensive efforts in the second chukker, allowing no scoring. The Tackeria had two penalty shots that they were unable to turn into goals, so at the end of the first half of the four chukker match, Far Niente continued to lead, 2-1.
A re-focused Tackeria team took the field in the third chukker and quickly went to work on the Far Niente defenders. Pinpoint passing from 16-year-old Juancito Bollini found a streaking Matthew Coppola time and time again as The Tackeria continued to press the attack. Coppola scored twice to wrest the lead away from Far Niente while he and his teammates shut down the Far Niente offense for the second consecutive chukker. After three chukkers of play The Tackeria held a fragile 3-2 advantage.
Coppola’s fourth goal of the game had The Tackeria in front, 4-2 as Far Niente struggled desperately to get back into the game, picking up a single goal from Wesley Finlayson, but that was where it ended. The final horn sounded with The Tackeria in possession of a 4-3 win in the inaugural tournament.
Coppola led all scoring with four goals. Far Niente’s Gonzalo Di Cuircio, Agustin Arellano and Wesley Finlayson scored single goals in a tightly contested game.
Coppola, Bollini, Finlayson, Di Cuircio and Arellano were joined by Escue’s Obregon on the six-player Zone 4 All-Star team. Coppola’s 7-year-old mare, Prada, a recent acquisition, was honored as Best Playing Pony.
In the lower Division II flight the Polo School at Grand Champions (Clemente Devrient, Santino Magrini, Hank Watson and Christian Weisz) snuck past Grand Champions (Santos Bollini, Matt Cohen, Justin Daniels and Anthony Devrient) in a one goal, 6-5 final in the two day round-robin that included a Pony Express entry (Lucas Arellano, Malia Bryan, Benji Daniels and Nico Escobar).
Named to the Division II All-Star team were Justin Daniels, Lucas Arellano, Nico Escobar, Christian Weisz and Clemente Devrient.
Hope Arellano’s pony, Cicatriz, played by her older brother Lucas Arellano, was named Best Playing Pony.
The International Polo club is one of eleven polo clubs nationwide that are hosting an NYTS tournament to help promote the growth of youth polo.
“We are happy to be associated with the new USPA NYTS program,” said IPC director of polo operations Jimmy Newman. “The NYTS program like these other programs provides yet another chance for young players to gain experience and perfect their polo skills.
For the NYTS series, thirteen USPA circuits are divided into six geographical zones. Each zone has a Zone All-Star Selection Committee that chooses at least four players and two alternates to represent their zone in the NYTS National Championship, scheduled this year for Labor Day Weekend at Virginia International Polo Club. The national tournament site will rotate annually.