ITHACA, N.Y. — Cornell Men's Polo (1-0) grabbed its first win of the 2024-25 season against the Gardnertown Polo Club on Saturday.  The Big Red defeated Gardnertown in a dominant fashion with the final score being 22-6.

"Fantastic game today," said Peter B. Orthwein '68 Head Coach of Polo, Anthony Condo Jr. 

"This was a great season-opening victory for our men's team. Gardnertown is a talented team and they are very well-coached." 

Even though Cornell was dominant throughout this match, Condo said, "We knew it wasn't going to be easy, and we do have some things to work on going forward in practice.  The final score in this one is definitely not indicative of the quality of the game."

Freshman Max Sponer came out swinging in his collegiate men's polo debut as he scored eight goals on the day including one two-pointer. Junior Benito Jaramillo Samper followed close behind Sponer  with seven goals in the match-up. Freshman Dylan Tung and Senior Christian Finlay each put up two goals and the final two goals came from pony goals and number one penalties.

On Gardnertown's side, Travis Soto was the main goal scorer with five and Adam Wallace scored once.

Gardnertown's Soto began the scoring, but Cornell answered back with five goals before the first chucker came to an end. The first chucker ended with the Big Red in the lead 5-1. 

The Big Red then began the second chucker with five goals in a row. Gardnertown answered with one goal before the end of chucker two making the score 10-2. 

In the third chucker Cornell scored two right off the bat. Gardnertown then answered with one goal. The Big Red responded with two more goals before the game got into a back and forth fashion. The third chucker ended with Cornell up 15-5.

In the final chucker, the Big Red tallied another six goals with one of those goals counting for two points and Gardnertown added one more goal making the final score 22-6.

FIRST CHUCKER

• Soto scored one for Gardnertown to open the game.

• Jaramillo tallied three goals in the chucker.

• Sponer scored one goal.

• The first chucker ended 5-1.

SECOND CHUCKER

• The second chucker began with a goal from Tung.

• Sponer tallied one goal in the chucker.

• Jaramillo tallied three goals. 

• Soto scored one for Gardnertown.

• The second chucker ended in favor of Cornell 10-2.

THIRD CHUCKER

• The third chucker began with a goal from Jaramillo.

• Sponer tallied three goals in the chucker.

• Tung tallied one goal.

• Soto scored three goals for Gardnertown.

• The Big Red led at the end of the third chucker 15-5.

FOURTH CHUCKER

• The fourth chucker began with a goal from Sponer. He had three goals in the fourth chucker, one of which counted for two points.

• Finlay tallied one goal in the chucker.

• Wallace scored once for Gardnertown.

• The final score was 22-6.

Cornell men's polo will be back in action on Thursday October 24 at 6:30 p.m. as they take on Texas A&M at the UVA fall tournament.