ITHACA, N.Y. – The Big Red polo teams won big at the William Field Invitational hosted at Oxley Equestrian Center from Wednesday, Nov. 18 – Sunday, Nov. 22. The Cornell men walked away with the championship title while the women settled for runner up.
Sunday's finals began with the women taking on Texas A&M.
Anna Winslow,
Elena Wicker, and
Claire Stieg once again started for the Big Red. Unfortunately, the trio came out flat against the very bouncy Aggies. The Aggies jumped to a 6-2 lead by the end of the first chukker.
Cornell came out in the second a little more awake but still struggled to score, falling back to an 11-6 deficit at the half.
By the third, Cornell was fully awake. Unfortunately, some bad bounces went the Aggies way. The Big Red could only close the gap to 13-9 A&M by the end of the third.
The fourth saw Cornell fight back to a 15-15 tie at the walk break. A&M pulled ahead 18-15 only to see Winslow smoke a two point shot to make it 18-17. Cornell had two penalty tries in the last 18 seconds but was unable to convert. The Aggies won the championship 18-17. Wicker had 11 goals, and Winslow four with two penalty goals.
The men's final followed the women's final and featured Cornell and the defending Field and National Champions Colorado State. Many twere surprised to see the Red make it to the Finals. Nobody was surprised to see the Rams there.
Cornell fell behind 2-0 and then settled down to lead 4-3 after one. The second saw the Rams fight back to tie at six heading into the half.
Neither team would budge in the third as Cornell again pulled out to an 11-10 lead. The fourth saw the Big Red pull out to a three goal lead only to see CSU fight back and tie the game at 16 with seven seconds left.
The game went into a shootout. Cornell took the shootout and the victory 17-16. This was quite the win for an ever-improving Cornell team. Masias tallied 11 goals, Saul four, and there was one pony goal.
The Cornell women are back at it Friday, Dec. 4 at 7:30 p.m. when they take on the University of Massachusetts at Oxley Equestrian Center. The men's squad plays the following day, Saturday, Dec. 5 at 2:00 p.m. when they take on Yale at Oxley Equestrian Center.
