NORTH EASTERN CIRCUIT USPA WOMEN'S CHALLENGE

A double victory for the Newport women this weekend.  Kate Jennings not only chaired the Newport Women's Polo Association in hosting the USPA NE circuits' top attended women's polo event but she also played number one in the Tournaments' winning A flight team, San Pellegrino.  Newport Polo's Equestrian chief Jacki Shore wore the number one shirt for the Morning Song Farm team and found victory in the Consolation.

Working alongside Newport Polo Club President Dan Keating and the playing and non-playing members of the NWPA, Newport Polo Club announcer and local radio DJ, Kate Jennings coordinated 8 teams of women players, over 70 visiting ponies and more than 30 sponsors to create another hugely successful weekend of polo.

The Dansk-sponsored Tailgate Festival and regular mentions on Swing FM attracted large crowds to Saturday's 3 o'clock final between San Pellegrino and Carol Koch's Owl Creek Polo Team. The fast turning game seesawed from one up to all square with top scoring from San Pellegrino's, Karen Eldridge, the Assistant Coach at Cornell and IWPA Chairman, Pippa Grace and backed by strong defense from Yale Manager, Eileen Flint, nicknamed by Newport as the "Queen of Crunch".  Attacking pressure in the Lineup from Kate Jennings produce an early goal for San Pellegrino but this was equalized with one of a total of 3 perfectly executed penalties for Owl Creek captain, MVP, Abby Riggs.  Riggs has been selected as a member of the US Team qualified to play in the World Championships in Australia in March. Stalemate was broken when some quick scoring pushed San Pellegrino ahead by two.  With only a minute and a half remaining a 60 yd penalty in favour of San Pellegrino would have sealed their victory but it caught the foot of Karen Eldridge's Top Playing Pony - Roo and both Abby Riggs and Kim Morgan were quick to pounce on the loose ball taking it to the other end of the ground to score for Owl Creek.  Another perfect penalty and the teams were tied again.   It was Karen Eldridge who saved the day for San Pellegrino when, despite hard riding from Jackie Czub she found a space from the lineout and streaked away on Roo to put the final score at 7 goals to 6. 

The enthusiastic crowd witnessed a convincing Consolation win for Morning Song Farm against Stage Hill Polo with a 7 to 2 goal result.  The fast attacking style of Cathy Fowser combined well with the controlling strength and skill of Jolie Liston and on her own string of home broken speedy ponies Cathy managed more than a few runaway goals.   Morning Song's Fran Bernard and Jacki Shore were both disappointed to have lost their semifinals against San Pellegrino by only a goal but were pleased when their team managed to get the better of Stage Hill's Kim Maguire and  Jennifer Poor who definitely felt the affects of two last minute team changes - on short notice Joyce Armstong and Patty Lehey substituted for Janine Gass and Adriene Gill.                                   ROO - Most Valuable Pony

In the B flight MVP Anne Oniskey found rare form and, with top play from teammate Kate Sullivan for Duende, they managed to prevail over the experience of Lexie Marquis and Megan Matson's Candy Store Team, sponsored by the local Newport nightclub of the same name.   Amy Rice's two early goals were their only ones of the match against a total of 11 notched up by Duende.. In the B Flight Consolation Final, Mary Weaver Rose, President of the NWPA, generously gave up half of her four chukka match to newest member, Wendy Umla. With top play from Collegiate Player of the year, Heather Torrey their Aquaterra Mermaids went on to win against Brooke Pastore's Seaband International.   Newport players mounted many of the B flight players including Emily French who played well in her first outdoor match for Seaband and also worked hard to design and publish a fully sponsored program for the event. There are now 13 playing members of the NWPA and their numbers are continuing to grow.  Dan Keating has expanded his midweek ladies coaching to include an advanced session for Friday evenings in addition to the already well attended Wednesday beginners fixture.  Dan is also planning to develop the children's coaching at Newport.   Having managed to reconfirm the lease at Glen Farm the future of polo in Newport including the very popular International Series and the highly successful NE Circuit Women's Challenge has been secured for another year.

Pippa Grace

RESULTS

Friday 6th October
OWL CREEK beat STAGE HILL POLO 5 to 1
SAN PELLEGRINO beat MORNING SONG FARM 7 to 6

Saturday 7th October
THE CANDY STORE beat SEABAND INTERNATIONAL 5 to 4
DUENDE beat AQUATERRA MERMAIDS

FINALS: SAN PELLEGRINO beat OWL CREEK 7 to 6
CONSOLATION FINALS: MORNING SONG FARM beat STAGE HILL POLO 7 to 2

Sunday 8th October
B FLIGHT FINALS: DUENDE beat THE CANDY STORE 11 to 2
B FLIGHT CONSOLATION FINALS: AQUATERRA MERMAIDS beat SEABAND INTERNATIONAL 5 to 4