This Saturday, the men’s polo team stuck it to the Boston Polo Club, winning 22-14, in a game often characterized by crowd pleasing plays. Despite a weak second chukker, Cornell managed to cruise to victory.
“That second chukker was kind of pitiful,” said head coach David Eldredge ’81, “but overall I was really happy with the play and the confidence level of the team.”
The confident play of the Red, particularly sophomore Senter Johnson, squad drew “oohs” and “ahs” from the crowd throughout the game.
“We’ve started to expect that from Senter,” beamed Eldredge. “He can be a momentum breaker for the other team.”
Sophomore Jeff Markle played the finisher, connecting on every chance he got in front of the goal. There appeared to be no sign of the confidence problems he had earlier in the season.
“Before regionals, Jeff had been having a confidence problem,” Eldredge noted. “Now, he’s really peaking.”
Even senior Javier Alcover, who is usually a quiet defensive contributor, made several notable plays and put away a goal.
As a side note, senior Ian Calder-Piedmonte, who is usually the backup for the Cornell polo squad, played for the Boston Polo Club because Boston failed to bring a third man to the game. He had a strong showing, scoring five goals against the Red.
Women’s Team
The lady riders’ game this past Friday against the Maryland Polo Club was just as much of a confidence booster for the women as the men’s game was for the men. After three very close chukkers, the women exploded in the fourth, giving them the 18-14 victory.
“That little explosion that we had there at the end is what this team is [capable of],” said Eldredge. “I was very happy with our performance.”
A major part of that explosion was the play of seniors Melissa Riggs and Liz Antczak, who rode in their final home game at Oxley on Friday.
Riggs scored six goals in her last match. Although that statistic is impressive in itself, it does not tell the whole story. She also had a number of impressive defensive plays and assists on goals that do not appear on the stat sheet.
“Melissa’s done a lot of special things in her time here,” said Eldredge, “it was great [to see her] play [as well as she did] tonight.”
Antczak had a very strong showing as well, scoring four goals.
The Red plays its first game against Texas A&M Thursday at Nationals.
Archived article by Michael Pandolfini