Globalport won its second title of the season Sunday at Grand Champions Polo Club.
By Sharon Robb
In front of a good crowd, Globalport (Mikee Romero, 0, Nino Obregon, 6, Barto Castagnola, 10, Anthony Garcia, 4) led from start to finish to defeat Aspen Valley Polo Club (Celestino Merlos, 0, Sugar Erskine, 6, Tommy Panelo, 10, Tommy Collingwood, 5) with a thrilling 9-8 victory.
Barto Castagnola was named Most Valuable Player. At 14, Celestino Merlos was presented the Youngest Player Award. Mikee Romero earned the High Scorer Award.
Niki, owned and played by Mikee Romero in the sixth chukker, was the American Polo Horse Association Best Playing Pony.
Pony Vendetta, played by Celestino Merlos in the first half of the fifth chukker and bred and owned by Tincho Merlos, was Grand Champions Best Playing Pony.
Globalport looked strong from the opening chukker. Adding on to its one-goal lead on handicap, Romero scored two goals and Castagnola added another with a minute left in the chukker to take a 4-0 lead.
After a defensive battle for most of the second chukker and missed scoring opportunities, Merlos scored his team’s first goal with 57 seconds left, to trail 4-1. Globalport continued to play well on both sides of the ball, giving up only one goal while scoring three to take a 7-2 lead going into the half.
Aspen Valley Polo Club clawed its way back, outscoring Globalport, 6-2, in the second half but fell short of its rally.
Aspen Valley Polo Club cut the lead to one, 8-7, on Panelo’s goal to open the sixth chukker. Two minutes later Castagnola hit Romero with a pass to extend Globalport’s lead, 9-7. Aspen Valley Polo Club had four scoring opportunities but couldn’t take advantage until the final 31 seconds when Panelo scored to cut the lead to 9-8 as time ran out.
“When you have a 10-goaler on the field on any team like Tommy Panelo they can win a game on their own,” said Globalport manager and polo player Anthony Garcia. “Then you have Celestino Merlos on his way up. Add Sugar who is a former 8-9 goaler and Tommy Collingwood who is a great player. It’s a coin toss between the teams. I don’t think one team dominated more than the other even with that much of an advantage. How it ended up was pretty close.”
Globalport, a former 26-goal World Polo League competitor, enjoys playing at Grand Champions.
“It’s always a pleasure for us to go out there and play,” Garcia said. “We always look forward to playing at Grand Champions.
“This was 20-goal level so we changed the team a little bit, playing with Barto, Nino, Mikee and myself,” Garcia said. “Nino and I played together for about eight years in Chicago. We put the team together and jumped at the opportunity to play at Grand Champions on a lucky day and wonderful event as usual.”
Romero led Globalport with a game-high five goals. Obregon, Castagnola and Garcia, who played lights out on defense, each had one goal. The 20-goal team was awarded one goal on handicap.
Panelo led Aspen Valley Polo Club with three goals. Erskine and Collingwood each had two goals and Merlos added one.
Globalport, enjoying its most successful winter season in Wellington, also won the prestigious Sterling Cup at Grand Champions with a 12-11 double overtime victory over defending champion Maltese Falcons (Melissa Ganzi, 0, Nic Roldan, 7, Gonzalito Pieres, 8, Santi Toccalino, 7). For that final, Globalport’s lineup was Stephanie Lueders, 0, Lucas Diaz Alberdi/Mariano Obregon, 6, Beltran Lauhle, 6, Barto Castagnola, 10. Castagnola was MVP.
Globalport, which made its U.S. Open debut this year with Castagnola, Beltran Laulhe, Lucas Diaz Alberdi, Mikee Romero, Nico Escobar and Santos Merlos, has one tournament remaining before heading to Argentina.
“Looks like we will be here for many years to come,” Garcia said. “It’s a successful season to some, but of course for us we thought we could have given it a better run, but we are happy with the results. I think the team got better in each tournament. We will go back to the drawing board and see where we can improve the team as a whole. We will learn from the losses and remember the wins.”