In what can be considered the biggest match of the year, the men’s and women’s polo teams experienced mixed results at the University of Virginia this weekend. The women’s team took care of its match, cruising to an easy 10-3 victory. The men took an 18-3 loss, but left with encouraging sentiments towards the future.
On the women’s side, Elizabeth Anczak, Taylor McLean, and Melissa Riggs played a solid game to beat the UVA squad. Head Coach Dave Eldredge ’81 was not surprised by the outcome.
“We felt we were going to be able to beat them,” he said. “But we weren’t able to execute the things we’ve been working on as we had hoped.”
Eldredge felt that his team presents a formidable opponent to any team in the foreseeable future.
“We’re well balanced,” he said. “Any one of our players can beat any of the players on their team. We had a very solid game, but it was disappointing to not be able to execute the plays we wanted to.”
The Cornell squad has the same team back from last year which won the national championship. All three starters return and look to get just as far as last year’s squad.
“It’s nice having the same team back,” he said, “because I know I can put them in and they’ll win.”
Speaking of number one player Anczak, Eldredge said. “She’s our real thinker out there. She has a really good mind of the game.”
On the men’s side, the loss was not surprising. With two starting freshmen in Senter Johnson and Jeff Merkl, the Red is looking to develop chemistry with such a young team. Against a school that is favored to win the national championship, Cornell had limited expectations.
Eldredge said, “They’ve only played a few games together. Chemistry has come far quicker than I ever expected. It wasn’t an easy blowout, they had to earn those 18 goals.”
Speaking of captain and number two player Javier Alcover, Eldredge noted, “He’s just a solid player.”
With Alcover gaining new responsibility at captain this year, Eldredge explained, “He’s really taken the captaincy seriously.”
Alternate Kevin Tang has been labeled with a possibility to jump up to a starting role.
Eldredge explained, “There’s always a chance of him moving up.”
Archived article by Matt Nassr