WESTCHESTER CUP

Following a closely fought match, England ultimately prevailed in the Westchester Cup with a decisive victory over the USA

The historic Westchester Cup was played at the National Polo Center, Wellington, Florida, on Friday 31 March, seeing Team USA (Matt Coppola, Nicolas “Nico” Escobar, Jeff Hall, Jared Zenni) face a formidable English team (James Beim, Tomas Beresford, Max Charlton, Mark Tomlinson).

Shutting out USA in the fth chukka, while also putting three goals on the scoreboard, England were able to dominate both the offensive and defensive ends as time wound down. With Team USA unable to mount a successful comeback, England captured the 12-9 victory, triumphantly avenging their 2019 overtime loss. Despite the English triumph, USA still maintains the Westchester Cup record, with 11 total wins compared to England’s nine.

Throughout the Florida winter high-goal season, the US team has been preparing for the Westchester Cup by competing in the Gauntlet of Polo as La Elina. For England, there was much less time to prepare. Team captain, Tommy Beresford, commented, ‘We had two team practices. Honestly, we were only here for a week, so we didn’t have that much time. Luckily, Mark and James have played a lot together in the past. We all know each other. But to get that rhythm –La Elina’s been playing together all season, so they had a huge advantage there. I think we just went out there with a positive mindset, got the best horses we could and made sure we left everything on the eld.’

Using the players’ world’s highest handicaps, meaning that players competed on their highest handicap on record, the two teams were both rated 25 goals. Teams got off to a fairly even start, both capitalising on two scoring opportunities to end the rst chukka tied. USA’s Escobar and England’s Charlton continued this pattern in the second chukka to leave the score at 3-all. Goals from Coppola, Hall and Zenni equalised three goals from Beim and Tomlinson to end the rst half on a level playing eld at 6-all.

England came out all guns blazing at the start of the second half. A Penalty 2 from Beresford and a goal from Charlton outpaced a sole Penalty 1 awarded to USA, putting England in the lead at 8-7. Making the most of their momentum, England’s Charlton, Beim and Beresford added three more combined goals while also keeping USA off the board in the fth chukka. With England now leading 11-7 entering the nal chukka, a late push from Hall and Zenni hoped to inspire a USA comeback, but it was too little too late. A nal English goal from Charlton kept his team ahead 12-9 as time expired, returning the trophy to England.

Speaking of his team’s strategy and success, England’s Beim shared, ‘Myself and Mark have played a lot together and in Cámara [de Diputados] level and high levels of polo, and Tommy is a star; he’s going to be in the [Argentine] Open soon. We understand how to play a high level of polo, which is a little bit quicker and with fewer touches. So, we just came in with that mindset and worked to play fast and hit backhands and Max tted in amazingly at three and crushed the ball.’

For his 3-goal performance and relentless work on both sides of the ball, 26-year-old English captain Tomas Beresford, the team’s youngest member, was awarded Most Valuable Player. Matt Coppola’s rst chukka horse and last chukka spare, MC Adele (River Dance x Riojana), was presented with the Best Playing Pony honours.