Design For The People take the 16 Goal A Flight
The 2020 USPA Pacific Coast Circuit Women’s Challenge A Flight – featuring a $2500 USPA bonus to the winners – was contested by three teams in a round-robin format.
M1 FINANCIAL 16 – Malia McCoy 5, Kate Weber 4, Jennifer Luttrell-Benardoni 3, Jennifer Alexy 4.
JC POLO 16 – Jemma Contreras 2, Meghan Gracida 3, Erica Gandomcar-Sachs 5, Dayelle Fargey 6.
DESIGN FOR THE PEOPLE 16 – Catlin Dix 4, Mia Bray 5, Anna Coscia 3, Audry Persano 4.
The tournament was played over two days on Friday, December 18 & Sunday December 20 with points carried over from the first day to the second.
Day one saw JC Polo go up early over M1 Financial in the first two chukkers to lead by a count of 3 – 2 going to their Sunday match-up. Fargey with two goals and Gandomcar-Sachs with one accounted for the JC scoring while Weber replied with a pair for M1.
M1 stayed up to face Design for the People for periods number three and four. While Luttrell-Benardoni put M1 up by one goal after their first chukker, Persano and Bray each counted a goal in the second and Design for the People led by one at 2 – 1 going to Sunday.
The final two periods of day one therefore, put JC Polo back on the field to play Design for the People and the People took a one goal bulge to their second Friday chukker on a goal by Dix in the first. JC Polo got even in the second as Gandomcar-Sachs scored her second of the day, but the People came back with three – Persano with one and Bray with a pair – and Design for the People took a strong lead at 4 – 1.
The first Sunday play put JC Polo on the field against M1 Financial. Scoring was scarce with just one goal for each – Luttrell-Benardoni and Fargey – which led to a win for JC at 4 – 3 and a net goal.
M1 would now face Design for the People and scoring remained a premium as Coscia scored for the People to give them the win at 3 – 1 and two net goals. M1 was out.
As a result the championship would be decided in the last two chukkers and Design for the People were in a very enviable spot with a three goal lead over JC Polo at 4 - 1 after Friday’s play. To win the trophy and the $2500.00 that would go along with it, the People – with a win and two net goals - would only need to tie JC Polo who also had a win but just one net goal. JC, on the other hand, needed a win.
Fargey scored twice for JC in the first period to narrow the gap to one at 4 - 3 but Persano, playing the eventual Best Playing Pony, counted two of her own in the second to regain the three goal advantage and the 6 – 3 win for Design for the People and the 2020 USPA Pacific Coast Women’s Championship.
Design for the People 2 0 +5
JC Polo 1 1 -2
M1 Financial 0 2 -3
Persano was awarded the title of MVP and Inky, a horse auction rescue, owned by Dix and played by Persano was selected as the Best Playing Pony.
The Sunny Hale Memorial Horsemanship Award went to Judith Baker of the B Flight runner up Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club.
La Herradura claim 12 Goal B Flight
The $2500 USPA Pacific Coast Circuit 2020 Women’s Challenge B Flight 10 – 12 Goal featured a five team entry.
The elimination games saw Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club advance to the final with a round-robin victory over Zephyr and Sutter Buttes. La Hurradura earned their spot in the decider by virtue of a single game win over La Fortuna.
With La Herradura’s Meghan Gracida 3 unable to play in the final, Kim Kelly 3 filled in for the first chukker and Catlin Dix 4 substituted in the final three periods. Dayelle Fargey 6, Maggie Papka 2, and Rose Brownridge filled out the roster. With the change, La Herradura became 12 goals.
Santa Barbara (12) lined up with Judith Baker, Cory Williams 4, Mia Bray 5, and Melania Jones 3.
Kelly for La Herradura and Williams for Santa Barbara counted the only goals in the first to tie at one going to the second.
Williams scored twice more and Santa Barbara led in the early second by a pair at 3 – 1. However, the always aggressive Fargey counted three goals and La Herradura led by one at 4 – 3 going to the half. It was a lead they would not relinquish.
Fargey counted her fourth goal early in the third chukker to increase the La Herradura lead to a pair. Jones, for Santa Barbara, scored her first of the afternoon to come back within one, but Fargey grabbed her fifth and the third was over with La Herradura leading by two at 6 – 4 with one chukker left in regulation.
Fargey’s sixth counter gave La Herradura their biggest lead of the afternoon at 7 – 4. Jones and Bray with one each replied for Santa Barbara but it wouldn’t be enough and the $2500 USPA B Flight award was taken by La Herradura with a final count of 7 – 6.
With six goals, Fargey was certainly the Most Valuable Player on the day, and Flipper, owned by Marcial Socas and played by Williams earned the Best Playing Pony award.
The prestigious Sunny Hale Horsemanship Award was presented to Judith Baker
LA HERRADURA Meghan Gracida 3, Dayelle Fargey 6, Maggie Papka 2, Rose Brownridge (Sub Kim Kelly 3, Catlin Dix 4)
SANTA BARBARA 12 Judith Baker, Cory Williams 4, Mia Bray 5, and Melania Jones 3
SUTTER BUTTES 11 – Bonnie Magill 2, Madelyn Cobb 3, Cybele Jordan3, Elise Pardue 2.
ZEPHYR 10 – Elizabth Humphreys 2, Katy Escapite 2, Kristina Karailieva 3, Megan Flynn3.
LA FORTUNA 11 – Elise Bigelow 2, Shannon Mendez 3, Caroline Anier 5, Micaela Saracco 2
GK Victorious in C Flight Final
The C Flight Title went to GK Polo with a 3 – 0 victory over Yolo Polo. GK goals were scored by Jessica Keneally, Lauren McIntire, and Kathrine Hill.
GK earned their title birth with a 6 – 1 win over Ranch Del Sol and Yolo Polo advanced by virtue of a 6.5 – 4 shutdown of Camp Polo.
Kathrine Hill was named the MVP and Corky, owned and played by Jessica Keneally, was selected as the Best Playing Pony.
GK POLO 1 - Lauren McIntire, Kathrine Hill, Claire Bailey, Jessica Keneally 1.
YOLO POLO 1 – Libby Fogal, Olympia Granger, Jennifer Sims, Loren Gibson 1.
RANCHO DEL SOL 1 – Julie Reeske, Tennyson Hamir, Gillian Young 1.
CAMP POLO 2 – Sally Camp, Alex Bryant, Alisha Clark, Becky Schaller 2.
Tony Gregg