ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell men's and women's polo teams each kicked off the 20th Annual William S. Field Invitational with victories on Wednesday at Oxley Equestrian Center. The women cruised past Skidmore 23-2, while the men gutted out a 20-12 triumph over Kentucky.

The Big Red women kicked off the tournament Wednesday morning, with Kristin Russomano getting the start alongside Kailey Eldredge and Ali Hoffman. Cornell was only able to tally four times in the first chukker, including Russomano with her first ever goal to open up the scoring. Cornell relaxed and opened things up in the second with Hoffman and Eldredge each scoring four times to help the Big Red to a a 14-0 halftime lead. Brit Cox replaced Hoffman in the third and Cornell continued to add to its lead and was up 20-0 heading into the fourth. Maddy Olberg and Hoffman came in for the fourth with Cox to finish out the match. Hoffman led the way with nine goals, Eldredge scored eight, Russomano 2 had two, Cox scored once and the ponies were credited with three.

In the second match of the day and the first on the men's side, Connecticut rolled on an overmatched Yale squad with a 31-3 win. The third match of the day saw Kentucky take on the Big Red men. Nick Stieg, Branden Van Loon and Nik Feldman opened up for Cornell. In a back-and-forth chukker, the Big Red moved out at the end to a 7-4 lead. The Wildcats fought back well in the second and surged ahead just before the half, taking a 10-9 lead into the break. Connor Pardell subbed in for Stieg and Cornell surged back into the lead by outscoring the Wildcats 7-1 to take a 16-11 lead into the fourth. Cornell kept things rolling in the fourth while limiting Kentucky to only their second goal of the half. The final tally was 20-12 in Cornell's favor. Van Loon tallied nine goals, Feldman had seven and Stieg and Pardell each had two.