U.S.P.A. U.S. Open Women’s Tournament Finals
Goose Creek def BTA 7-6
The November 10th finals of the U.S. Open Women’s Polo Championship®, presented by Westside Surgical Hospital & Breast Center and Dr. Andrew T. Lyos, M.D. ,showcased some of the best women’s polo in the world, as Goose Creek faced off with BTA for the title. In an all-out battle for the nation’s only National Level USPA title in women’s polo, Goose Creek (Maureen Brennan, Sunny Hale, Kristy Outhier, and Julia Smith) scored an exciting 7-6 win in the last moments of the game overBTA (Chrys Beal, Lia Salvo, KC Krueger, and Sheila Lequerica).
“After the 2012 Open finals, early on my goal was to bring back the best team I could to the 2013 Open. This week’s solid teamwork between Julia, Kristy, Sunny and myself made the most of each of our skills on the field and allowed us to accomplish that goal. Although we had one win over BTA on Thursday, going into Sunday’s Finals we knew they would bring a new strategy and a determination to win. BTA played an amazing game down to the last minute of the Finals, but Goose Creek stuck to the game plan we had followed all week and things worked out in our favor. There is such a great collection of women players that come to Houston each year, and it’s worthwhile to travel for such a prestigious and well-organized tournament. And the camaraderie of women’s polo always makes it a lot of fun,” said Maureen Brennan of Goose Creek, who’s team has now won two of the last three Women’s Open tournaments. With over eighty players competing in five divisions, Houston now hosts the largest annual women’s polo event in the Unites States, and is just one of the many events around the country associated with the Women’s Championship Tournament (WCT) series.The WCT was founded by polo legend Sunny Hale in 2005 to consolidate women’s polo into a common format and promote high-quality women’s polo and the players who compete worldwide.
The week’s eliminations began on Tuesday with decisive 13-3 win by Goose Creek over the Lockton team (Cecelia Cochran, Karen Reese, Mumy Bellande, and Courtney Asdorian). Also on Tuesday, the Arroyo Escondido team (Cristi Payan, Caroline Anier, Sarah Wiseman, and Megan Scanlon)had the BTA team well in hand up to the last chukker, when BTA came out strong and ended the game in the last 30 seconds with a dramatic6-5win over Arroyo.
The second round of Eliminations on Thursday gave Goose Creek their ticket to the finals at 2-0 as they defeated BTA 6-2, while Lockton and Arroyo Escondido took their match into overtime. Lockton’s Karen Reese converted on an OT penalty to win the match 5-4 and advance Lockton to the semis.
Thursday’s outcome placed BTA and Lockton at 1-1, advancing both to the semifinals for a chance to advance on to the Open Finals. In an early Saturday match, Lockton traded goals with BTA to the last moments of the game, where a last minute goal by Salvo put BTA up 5-4 over Lockton, earning them a shot at the overall tournament win.
In addition to the 6-goal U.S. Open Women’s Polo Championship®, the 2-goal US Women’s Handicap was slated for the week, with 10 teams entered, as well as four teams entered in the Farish Cup Invitational and two teams in the Bayou City Invitational. Heavy rains early in the week led to very limited field availability, which moved the 2 goal division to an indoor format, played at the ERG Arena on Wednesday Nov 6th and Friday Nov 8th. Wednesdays’ exciting round of arena polo split the pack into the 5 Championship bracket teams at 1-0 and 5 Consolation Bracket teams at 0-1. Friday’s semifinals placed Pegasus and Land Rover on top in the winning bracket, and placed Neiman Marcus against St Regis in the Consolation Bracket finals.
Improved field conditions allowed Saturday’s 2-goal Championship and Consolation Finals to move to an outdoor format, and crowds packed the sidelines of the HPC Flanders field to enjoy tailgating, shopping at the La Martina store and specialty vendors, and a margarita contest. Pegasus (Anne Andras, Sheila Lequerica, Tiffany Clifton, Lia Salvo) scored a decisive7-2 win over Land Rover (Cecelia Cochran, Slaney O’Hanlon, Julia Steiner, Courtney Asdorian) to take the Championship trophy, while Neiman Marcus (Kendall Plank, Megan Flynn, Brianna Galindo, KC Krueger) defeated St Regis (Samantha Falbe, Erin Brittin, Jolie Liston, Sheryl Sick) 6-2. River Oaks Bookstore was the winner of the Farish Cup invitational, and Sullivan Group claimed 1st place in the Bayou City Invitational division.
The week-long event ended with Sunday’s Finals, which included a special WCT Junior exhibition match featuring girls ages 8 to 12. HPC is excited to include the Junior group in the 2013 tournament, with the goal of bringing today’s top players together with the next generation of female polo players. “Twenty years ago, young girls starting out in polo didn’t have the opportunity to begin competing this early on,” says Hale. “Today, with the right training and leadership example, there is no limit to what these girls can achieve over the next 10 to 20 years in our sport. Most of all, the friendships and polo dreams that I can see being forged among these young players are very special.”
Heading into the 2:00pm Sunday Finals, three of the four players for Goose Creek brought extensive experience in playing together in higher-level women’s polo to the field, as did BTA’s powerful lineup of Argentine 2-goal player Lia Salvo and the mother-daughter team of Chrys Beal and KC Beal Krueger, as well as Houston’s Sheila Lequerica. The two teams swapped goals and some hard bumps through three fast-paced chukkers, with no significant advantage emerging for either team. Goose Creek gathered some momentum late in the third and entered the 4th chukker with a two goal lead. In the last chukker, Lia Salvo narrowed the gap back to one goal, but Sunny Hale scored with a nearside neckshot to put Goose Creek back two goals up 7-5. Lia Salvo scored one more back but ran out of time to tie it up in during the last minute of play, ending the Finals 7-6 in favor of Goose Creek.
“This year’s Open was some of the best women’s poIo I have ever played, so competitive and fun. I’m glad we could at least give them a run for their money,” said BTA’s KC Krueger. “We are so fortunate to be able to have such a great tournament with so many teams in all levels. This tournament’s success would not be possible without organizations traveling across the US and players coming in from all over the world,” she added.
MVP of the Open division was awarded to Sunny Hale. Best Playing Pony in the Professional division went to Cachorra owned by Maureen Brennan and played by Sunny Hale, and to Bitsy in the Amateur division, played and owned by Chrys Beal.
In addition to lots of outdoor and arena polo action, all 81 participants in the tournament enjoyed Texas hospitality, including a cocktail party hosted by Land Rover of Houston, an Welcome Players asado, La Martina customer gear bags, and other prizes awarded for each place in all divisions. Other 2013 event contributors included St. Regis hotels, Hendrick’s Gin, Melissa Pop, MyRecruiting, Sullivan Group, River Oaks Bookstore, Tavaero Jet, Ruth’s Chris, Esther Kane/Fairplay Farms and Masai of Palm Beach.
The event’s host club, the Houston Polo Club (HPC), was founded in 1928 and has become one of the largest USPA clubs in the nation. The club hosts 0 through 14-goal polo tournaments during the fall and spring seasons. HPC is also a recognized USPA Regional Polo Center (RPC) and provides a full-service polo school, junior polo events and year-round boarding and riding lessons. The USPA established the RPC program as a network of the most prominent polo centers around the country that train polo players, umpires, managers and others. They also support other clubs nearby and provide resources in an effort to enhance USPA membership.
Complete Results
USPA U.S. Open Women’s Polo Championship® Division (6 Goal)
1st: Goose Creek
2nd: BTA
3rd: Arroyo Escondido
4th: Lockton
TEAM LIST – USPA U.S. Open Women’s Polo Championship® Division (6 Goal)
| Goose Creek | |
| Sunny Hale |
3 |
| Julia Smith |
0 |
| Maureen Brennan |
1 |
| Kristy Outhier |
2 |
| Goal Rating |
6 |
| BTA | |
| Chrys Beal |
0 |
| KC Krueger |
1.5 |
| Sheila Lequerica |
0.5 |
| Lia Salvo |
2 |
| Goal Rating |
4 |
| Arroyo Escondido |
|
| Caroline Anier |
2 |
| Cristi Payan |
0 |
| Sarah Wiseman |
2 |
| Meaghan Scanlon |
0.5 |
| Goal Rating |
4.5 |
|
|
|
| Lockton | |
| Cecelia Cochran |
1 |
| Courtney Asdorian |
1 |
| Karen Reese |
1.5 |
| Mumy Bellande |
2T |
| Goal Rating |
5.5 |
TEAM LIST – USPA U.S. Women’s Handicap Division (2 Goal)
| Neiman Marcus | |
| Kendall Plank |
-0.5 |
| Megan Flynn |
0.5 |
| Brianna Galindo |
0 |
| KC Krueger |
1.5 |
| Goal Rating |
1.5 |
| Deadman’s Creek Ranch | |
| Lara Straussfeld |
0 |
| Celine Henke |
0 |
| Hollie Boggess |
CM |
| Emma Tooth |
-1 |
| Goal Rating |
|
| Pegasus | |
| Anne Andras |
-0.5 |
| Sheila Lequerica |
0.5 |
| Tiffany Clifton |
0 |
| Lia Salvo |
2 |
| Goal Rating | 2 |
| Hendrick’s Gin | |
| Liz Lary |
-0.5 |
| Paige Flanders |
-0.5 |
| Carolyn Stimmel |
1 |
| MumyBellande |
2T |
| Goal Rating | 2 |
| Melissa Pop | |
| Sarah Prinsloo |
0 |
| Caroline Anier |
2 |
| Catlin Dix |
1 |
| Maria Hartley |
-1 |
| Goal Rating |
2 |
| Rockin’ P |
|
| Courtney Price |
-1 |
| DayelleFargey |
1 |
| Tiamo Hudspeth |
1 |
| Abby Riggs |
1 |
| Goal Rating |
2 |
|
|
|
| Land Rover |
|
| Cecelia Cochran |
1 |
| Slaney O’Hanlon |
0 |
| Julia Steiner |
0 |
| Courtney Asdorian |
1 |
| Goal Rating |
2 |
|
|
|
| St. Regis |
|
| Samantha Falbe |
0 |
| Erin Brittin |
0.5 |
| Jolie Liston |
1.5 |
| Sheryl Sick |
0 |
| Goal Rating |
2 |
|
|
|
| Listo Polo |
|
| Jenny Vargas |
0.5 |
| Chloe Bourgeouis |
0 |
| Cybele Jordan |
0 |
| Amy Burgert |
-1 |
| Goal Rating |
-0.5 |
|
|
|
| Andrew Lyos, MD |
|
| Amanda Diehl |
-0.5 |
| Rebekah Evans |
-1 |
| Rel Mazur |
-0.5 |
| Danielle Kamman |
CM |
| Goal Rating |
|
| Farish Cup Invitational |
| River Oaks Bookstore |
| Barlee Flanders 0 |
| Sheila McGrew 0 |
| Trace Salzano -1 |
| Josie Jones -1 |
| My Recruiting |
| Brooks Diesel 0 |
| Louisa Fikes 0 |
| Lauren Rae -1 |
| Catherine Keen -1 |
| Ruth Chris |
| Alexis Barker 0.5 |
| Jane Isquith -1 |
| Nora O’Neil -1 |
| Cynthia Ernvey -1 |
| Tavaero Jet |
| Molly Musselman 0 |
| Jenny Sharrock -1 |
| Elle Seybold -1 |
| Andrea Brucculeri -1 |
| Bayou City Cup Invitational |
| Sullivan Group |
| Clare Jackson/Liz Maygar |
| Carol Farthsworth/Allison Riordan |
| Megan Ralhfs
Carolyn Stimmel |
| The Tasting Room |
| Lauren Levicki/Martha Davis |
| Debbie Shelton/ Cindy Madole |
| Antonia Anderson
Dayelle Fargey |
| Junior Exhibition – Filly Cup |
| Emma Vargas |
| Lily Lequerica |
| Phoebe Vargas |
| Grace Mudra |
| Joanie Jackson |
For more information about the upcoming USPA U.S. Open Women’s Polo Championship or about the Houston Polo Club, visit www.thehoustonpoloclub.com