Collegiate polo’s best will once again converge on the Oxley Equestrian Center today, when the men’s and women’s polo teams play host to the Bill Field Invitational.
Cornell’s men’s team will open the festivities today with a match against Yale. In addition to the Elis, teams from Connecticut, Texas A&M, Skidmore, Valley Forge Military Academy, and Virginia will participate. The event, which takes the form of a round-robin tournament will go until Sunday, when the championship games will take place.
“The invitational gives us a great opportunity to challenge some of the better teams across the country,” said Cornell head coach David Eldredge ’81. “It also gives everyone a chance to play and compete.”
The Field Invitational, which Eldredge described as a “wonderful tournament,” gives the Red an early opportunity to see how it measures up against the some of the toughest competition in the nation. Cornell is particularly looking forward to a potential matchup against Texas A&M, which is an early favorite to take the national championship in April.
The Red is coming off a 20-13 loss at Connecticut this past Sunday. After this recent setback, the Red’s record stands at 4-2 on the season, a figure it expects to improve upon with this week’s tournament. Wins and losses aside, though, Cornell has greater expectations for the weekend — namely the chance to feed off the quality of competition it will face.
“This tournament should give our team great exposure and is supported very well by other schools competing,” Eldredge said.
The team has been led this season by freshman Brian Fairclough and sophomore Stan Feldman, who is the only returning player from last year’s team.
“They [Fairclough and Feldman] really lean on each other very well, and have asserted themselves as leaders on this inexperienced and young team,” Eldredge said.
Cornell’s next match will be Friday night, regardless of today’s outcome. The final round of the tournament will take place on Sunday afternoon.
Archived article by Josh Fox
Sun Staff Writer