Santa Rita rallied in the final chukker to win the Independence Cup Saturday at Aspen Valley Polo Club.
By Sharon Robb
In the summer polo season opener, Santa Rita (Haley Schaufeld, Grant Ganzi, Tomacho Pieres, Juan Bollini) staged one of the biggest comebacks in the club’s 11-year history with a thrilling 6-5 victory over Los Amigos (Meredith Lovegrove, Gabriel Gracida, Marc Ganzi, Santos Bollini).
Schaufeld scored two goals including the game-winner in the fourth and final chukker. Schaufeld, an alum of The Polo School in Wellington, Fla. was selected Most Valuable Player.
Santa Rita overcame 4-1 and 5-2 deficits at the AVPC Barn Field.
In the opening chukker, Los Amigos took control early jumping out to a 3-0 lead with goals from Marc Ganzi, Gracida and Lovegrove, another The Polo School alum. Los Amigos scored off three consecutive bowl-ins.
Schaufeld scored her first goal at the 1:46 mark of the first chukker. Los Amigos quickly came back, winning another throw-in setting up Santos Bollini’s goal to take a 4-1 lead into the second chukker.
Santa Rita continued its comeback with Grant Ganzi scoring the first of two 80-yarders to trail only by two, 4-2. With 42 seconds left in the chukker, Lovegrove scored for a 5-2 lead.
While Los Amigos went cold, Santa Rita got hot dominating the third chukker by scoring three unanswered goals including the tying goal, 5-5, by Ganzi with 33 seconds left.
Santa Rita took the lead with 2:55 left in the game. Both teams played well but Los Amigos missed two scoring opportunities and Juan Bollini came up with a great last-minute defensive back shot.
Grant Ganzi led Santa Rita scoring with three goals. Schaufeld had two and Juan Bollini added one. Lovegrove led Los Amigos with two goals. Gracida, Marc Ganzi and Santos Bollini each had one goal.
With the breath-taking 12,965-foot summit of Mount Sopris as a backdrop, some of the world’s top players are competing in 14 grass and arena tournaments in July and August.
Season highlights include the August 18th Summer Polo Charity Classic, benefitting the Aspen Valley Hospital Foundation. Last year AVPC celebrated its tenth anniversary and enjoyed its best season, highlighted by the Summer Polo Charity Classic, benefitting the Aspen Valley Hospital Foundation. A sellout crowd of 1,200 enjoyed the food, music, polo, auction and vendors during a five-hour tripleheader. Since 2016, the event has netted $3.5 million for the hospital.
Other season highlights are the Triple Crown of Polo-Aspen and Silver Queen Invitational doubleheader, inaugural Twilight Polo Series and Aspen Arena Series Final.
Other summer tournaments are Craig Sakin Memorial, Basalt Handicap, Emma Challenge Cup, High Alpine Cup, Mount Sopris Cup, Rocky Mountain Open, Carbondale Classic and Maroon Bells Cup.
Last year’s Independence Cup winner was Victory Polo (Becky Schmeits, Grant Ganzi, Alejandro Novillo Astrada, Juan Bollini) with a thrilling 4-3 win over Mountain Chevrolet (Riley Ganzi/Santos Bollini, Michael Payne, Nic Roldan, Jimmy Seward).
In the ChukkerTV Challenge Cup final, Santa Rita (Melissa Ganzi, Tito Gaudenzi, 2, Alejandro Novillo Astrada, 7, Juan Bollini, 3) defeated Tonkawa (Jeff Hildebrand, Jimmy Seward, 3, Tomacho Pieres, 6, Martin Jauregui, 6), 9-7.