ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell men's polo team, expecting to miss Peru national team member Ignacio Masias this coming week, watched Gardnertown Polo Club explode out of the shoot to take an 8-1 first chukker lead and never relinquish it, earning a 26-15 deicision on Saturday evening at Oxley Equestrian Center. The loss dropped the Big Red to 4-2 on the season.

WIth Masias set to compete in this week's Federation of International Polo World Championships, Cornell went with Kamran Pirasteh, Hakan Karabey and Nick Stieg as the starting lineup. Gardnertown scored the first eight goal s of the match and led 12-6 at the break. Alex Langlois and Masias replaced Pirasteh and Stieg for the second half, but things did not get better for the Big Red. Gardnertown kept up the pressure as they would bring home the victory, dropping Cornell 26-15. Stieg and Masias each had four goals, Pirasteh had three, Langlois notched two and Karabey and the horses were credited with one each.