What a day! We knew the finals of the USPA Rossmore Cup was going to be a nail-biter, but we had no idea we’d have two crashes, two red flags, over time, and a run-away horse.
Tritech/Princeps:
Alisha Wray -1 (SUB: Colton Bancroft in 6-7 Chukkers)
Ashton Wolf 3
Gaston VonWernich 5
Chris Maloney 1
Hanalei Bay:
Krista Bonaguidi -1
Alvaro Tadeo 3
Mariano Fassetta 6
Ron Bonaguidi 0
The teams were practically snarling at each other after the national anthem was sung and before the first ball throw in. Things started off hot in the first chukker. Mariano scored one for Hanalei Bay and Gaston scored two penalty hits for Tritech/Princeps. In the chukkers to follow, more fouls resulted in more penalty shots. By half time, the score was close, 6 to 5 Tritech/Princeps in the lead.
By the 6th chukker, the score was 10 to 9, Hanalei Bay slowly taking the lead. With 3 minutes remaining, Alvaro Tadeo checked once, checked twice and couldn’t stop his horse. His horse ran into and knocked patrona, Alisha Wray off her horse. Alisha fell, got the wind knocked out of her and hit her head. She was out for a couple of minutes and was attended to by the onsite EMTs. She was then transported to Scripps Hospital for observation. She is home now, resting with her family and is in good spirits.
After Alisha was taken out of the game, 14 year old Colton Bancroft ran back to his barn to grab his whites and a horse and entered the game in Alisha’s place. With a minute and 30 seconds left in the chukker, Colton had a break away and scored a goal to tie up the match. The crowd went absolutely wild.
The match went into over time and both teams were fighting hard for that first goal to win the USPA Rossmore Cup Finals. Mariano Fassetta was bumped byAshton Wolf, hit the horse’s head with his diaphragm, it knocked the wind out of him and he and his horse went down. The horse took off running to the barns,Diego Cossio picked up his friend on his motorcycle and took him back to the tie rails. The horse passed the barns and looped back to the tie rails.
Mariano mounted a new horse and got back on the field. Alvaro Tadeo took the penalty 3 shot for Mariano and scored the winning goal for Hanalei Bay!
Raita, owned by Chris Maloney and played by Gaston Von Wernich in the 3rd chukker, won Best Playing Pony of the USPA Rossmore Cup.
