The 2009 USPA 0-6 goal Central Circuit Sportsmanship Cup at the Silver Spur Polo Club was a competitive and fun tournament. There were several competitive teams from the Midwest area. All of the games were won by one goal and/or overtime, which shows how evenly matched the teams and games were.
Dark Star.
In the preliminary match, Team Red Stripe had a fast riding match against a tough Grand Rapids team. The Grand Rapids team was a very well balanced roster, but Red Stripe edged them out by a goal in the final minutes. In the next match up, Dark Star took on Silver Spur. Dark Star’s Gonzalo Tevez had fantastic teamwork with Darren Watts in a nice open and running game. Dean Regas and Alvaro Font converted several passes for Silver Spur to keep the score even. In the final moments, the defense of Dark Star’s Kelsey Brazek and Darren Watts kept Silver Spur from scoring and a final goal was scored by Team Dark Star. The next mach up between Grand Rapids and Silver Spur was a tough riding, yet very even match. Paul Knapp and Tom Wisehart had several nice goals for Grand Rapids. Silver Spur’s Claudio Gauna and Don Healy answered back to even the score. In the last chukkar, Grand Rapids edged out a goal ahead of Silver Spur. In the final match, Red Stripe took on Dark Star. Red Stripe’s Todd Rackley added several early points to the scoreboard. Dark Star answered back with several long runs to goal by Gonzalo Tevez and Melanie Soos. Red Stripe’s Scott Lucas and Cindy Fueredi had excellent defense, but Dark Star’s Golzalo Tevez and Darren Watts were the story of the match and added the final goals to the scoreboard and eventually won the game for Team Dark Star. Dark Star won the tournament. The trophies were beautiful, engraved bowls.
The USPA Central Circuit Sportsmanship Cup winners are pictured from left to right in the attached photo–Team Dark Star (Kelsey Brazek, Shannon Misoukanis, Darren Watts and Gonzalo Tevez).
The teams that played were:
Red Stripe
Scott Lucas 0
Cindy Fueredi -1
Tod Rackley 3
Gilbert Dominguez 2
4
Dark Star
Darren Watts 0
Shannon Misoukanis 0
Kelsey Brazek/Mellanie Soos 0
Gonzalo Tevez 4
Silver Spur
Memo/Alavero Font -1
Dean Regas 1
Claudio Gauna 2
Don Healy 2
4
Grand Rapids
Paul Knapp 2
Les Johnson 1
Matt Johnson 0
Tom Wisehart 1
4