NEWS

The National Intercollegiate Championship (NIC) kicked off the opening round of tournament play yesterday at the University of Connecticut’s Horsebarn Hill Arena. Connecticut offered a warm welcome to the top 6 men’s teams and top 4 women’s polo teams in the country, with a winter storm of snow, ice, sleet and rain. Leading off the tournament’s preliminary match, the University of Virginia defeated Westmont College, 19-10. In the wild card matchup, Western Ontario clinched a 14-13 win over the University of Miami.

Action kicked off at 10am ET with the Southeastern Regional Champions, the University of Virginia versus the Western Regional Champions, Westmont College. After a slow start, UVA’s Felipe Gomez scored two goals, as Westmont’s Tony Uretz answered back with a field goal. Following three back-to-back goals from Aristide Faggionato, UVA headed into the end of the first chukker with a 5-1 advantage. UVA continued to pad its lead, in the second chukker, gaining seven additional goals to Westmont’s three. Westmont rallied behind Uretz and Michael Esparza, who contributed a combined five goals in the third chukker, keeping UVA at bay, with only to two additional scores. UVA came back strong in the final chukker, securing its 19-10 victory with an impressive five goals to Westmont’s one.

“The men had a very exciting game against a team and a coach we have a lot of respect for,” said University of Virginia coach Lou Lopez. “We hope to learn a lot from this win and take it to the next two games and win a National Championship.”

To conclude the first day of tournament play, the University of Western Ontario and the University of Miami took to the arena for a thrilling back-and-forth battle. The Western Ontario players are no stranger to the I/I arena – having competed strongly in the Open Interscholastic Division for years under Toronto Polo Club, the University team was welcomed to the program in the fall of 2015. Miami, armed with Team USPA members Jonny Lavine and Jared Zenni, was looking to reclaim its position as an elite intercollegiate polo team.

Western Ontario, in their NIC debut, jumped out to an early lead behind CJ Sifton capitalizing on a penalty 2, which was answered by two, two-pointers (a ball hit from beyond the centerline, which scores directly or off the wall) from Miami’s Lavine and Zenni. With back-and-forth scoring from both teams, Miami finished the first chukker with a one goal advantage. Zenni led off the second chukker with three unanswered field goals, as Western Ontario’s Kingsley Ward added a goal. Coming out of the half trailing 7-4, Western Ontario capitalized on two, two-pointers, this time from Begg and Evan White, and converted two penalty shots to take an 11-10 lead. After padding its lead to four, Western Ontario held off Miami’s last minute heroics to secure a 14-13 victory.

“Another nail biter!” said University of Western Ontario coach Scott Weir. “Thanks to Miami for a great game. We’re looking forward to facing a great team from perennial powerhouse, Texas A&M. We’re excited to play in the semis at Nationals!”

On Thursday, April 7, the University of Western Ontario will square off against Texas A&M University in the semifinals at 3:30pm ET. With a first-round bye, the Texas A&M Men’s team will be looking to improve upon its second place finish in 2015 after falling short to Colorado State. University of Virginia will look to carry its momentum into the semifinal round against Cornell University on Thursday, April 7 at 6pm ET.