ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell women's polo team continued its unbeaten start by sweeping through the William S. Field Polo Invitational this past week at Oxley Equestrian Center. The Big Red improved to 10-0 on the season with victories over Skidmore (21-6), Virginia (18-14) and defending national champion Kentucky (21-15) in succession.

The Big Red started of the tournament off on Wednesday with a convincing win against Skidmore. Lizzie Wisner, Kailey Eldredge and the combination of Jess Cross and Ali Hoffman took a 15-2 lead into the half. Wisner and Eldredge sat out the second half as Claire Glashan and Kate Harkness came in to complete the win at 21-6. The Big Red then met Virginia, whom Cornell had topped 18-12 earlier in the week. Cornell picked right up where it left off the previous weekend and jumped out to an 11-0 advantage before the Cavaliers scored to make it 11-2 at the half. Virignia is a proud, tough team, and they were not folding their chairs and going home. The Cavaliers came out well in the third and stemmed the Big Red's scoring tide a bit as they lost the chukker only 4-3 to head into the fourth down 15-5. Cornell got sloppy in the fourth, having committed 11 fouls to that point, the Big Red made eight more in the chukker which helped to allow the Cavs a chance to make a couple of runs to get within 18-14 at the final horn.

Into the finals, Cornell met a Kentucky team with its entire team returning. They had earlier cruised by UMass (25-8) and topped Connecticut (17-11). The contest set up a rematch in the final of last year's national semifinal where UK was successful on its way to the title. It was expected to be a barn burner and it was. After trading goals early on, Cornell took a 4-3 lead only to see the champs score three quick goals, including a two-pointer, to take a 6-4 lead after one. After trading the first eight goals between them, Cornell was still down two at the mid-point of the second chukker. The Big Red then fought for the next three goals and tool a last-second 11-10 lead into the half. The pace continued as a grind it out kind of game, up and down the arena with lots of physical play. Cornell though kept coming out on top with some great defense and solid offense. By the end of the chukker, Cornell had shut out the champs 6-0 and taken a 17-10 lead into the fourth. The champs were not going away that easy though, as the Wildcats came out in the fourth and ran off four straight goals to pull it back to 17-14. Cornell had the answer though and put up four straight of their own to extend the lead back to seven goals. Kentucky would tally once more to make the final tally 21-15 in favor of the home team.