NEWS

Story Courtesy of Eldorado Polo Club/Tony Gregg.

CedarCreek and Thermal, both of which qualified to play in the final of the 2019 4-Goal USPA Carlton & Keleen Beal Cup at Eldorado Polo Club in Indio, California, both played in January, but made changes to their team rosters for February.

Coming off a very successful month of play in January, Reg Whyte (0) and Felipe Sordelli (2), added Lamar Rutherford (-1) and Rodrigo Salinas (3) to the Thermal lineup. CedarCreek’s Nicholas Wilhelm (-1) and Ashton Wolf (3) welcomed Alexandra Green (-0.5) and veteran Diego Cossio (2) to the roster to qualify for their first final.

At the start of the game, CedarCreek was awarded a half point on handicap. Play in the first chukker was relatively even with each team scoring a goal a piece, CedarCreek leading 1.5-1. Thermal came out in the second and took control of the game with three unanswered field goals to easily overtake the lead by halftime 4-1.5.

Scoring in the second half remained even with one counter in the third and fourth chukkers by both teams, producing a final score of 6-3.5 in favor of Thermal. Claiming the victory, Whyte and Sordelli defended their title as members of the winning 2018 team.

Salinas contributed three goals to the tally for Thermal, Sordelli two including one open goal penalty conversion, and Rutherford one goal. Cossio answered back with a pair of goals and Wolf added one for CedarCreek.

Sordelli, with his accurate and authoritative play, was selected as Most Valuable Player. Best Playing Pony honors were presented to Lucas, owned and played by Salinas in the second chukker.

All photos courtesy ©Kerri Kerley.