National champions: women's polo

Cornell 17, Virginia 16 on a goal in the last 10 seconds, to win the USPA Collegiate National Tournament. [cornellbigred.com]

Men lost in a shootout to Texas A&M in the semifinals.

IINM this doesn't (or didn't used to) count towards our total of NCAA championships because it's club, not varsity (or non-NCAA sanctioned, or something like that). Is that (still) true? It's a shame because Cornell has 13 women's national polo titles (having been in the final in an insane 31 of the last 37 years). The men have 11 titles and have played in 35 finals.

Trotsky
IINM this doesn't (or didn't used to) count towards our total of NCAA championships because it's club, not varsity (or non-NCAA sanctioned, or something like that). Is that (still) true? It's a shame because Cornell has 13 women's national polo titles (having been in the final in an insane 31 of the last 37 years). The men have 11 titles and have played in 35 finals.

Right. It's not an NCAA sport/championship. Part of the US Polo Association Intercollegiate/Interscholastic umm...division?

Both the Men and Women won the Northeast Regional, the Men by an injury forfeit from Skidmore. For the Women, it was their 7th straight Regional championship. For the Men, their 12th in 13 years.

The Men lost to Texas A&M in the semifinals of Nationals. According to the CU report, A&M tied the match on a penalty shot with 5 seconds left in regulation and advanced by winning a shootout.

The women defeated UConn in the Regional Final and then in the National Semifinal. Cornell was 5-1 this season vs. UConn, and those were the only 5 losses for UConn.

On a whim, Chris '03 and I decided to stop off at Storrs, CT to watch the Polo National Finals on our way to the Frozen Four Final in Boston on Saturday. It was my first time at a live Polo match, because goddammit, "I'm Going To Witness A Cornell Team Win A National Title Before I Die (tm)." And it worked!

The Women played UVA, and led 7-2 early, but UVA stormed back & went ahead late in the 4th. (Julia Smith for UVA seems to be a rock star in the sport). Cornell managed to tie and then get the winning goal with 10 seconds left. UVA still had one last chance to tie, but fell short.

The Men's match featured a similar come-from-behind effort, as Colorado State overcame a big deficit to defeat Texas A&M and see a championship moment for Kareem Rosser, who has a great story. I just learned that he had wanted to attend Cornell:

[www.denverpost.com]
[espn.go.com]

I'm glad that I went, and there was a good crowd, both for the event in general, and Cornell supporters. A guy identifying himself as head of the Cornell Polo boosters came up to thank us for coming. Cornell's teams won a lot of awards, including "best performing strings," whatever that means.

Wonder if the pep band is welcome?

I think "best performing strings" refers to the polo ponies.

It was well worth it. One theme seemed to be an effort to expose more people to the sport. Unfortunately, info on nationals was almost impossible to find, there was no promotion, and I think Rich and I may have been the only non-polo players, alumni, coaches, or immediate family among the assembled masses. We were also certainly the only people to witness the polo and frozen four. Three national titles in one day? Yes, please.

If you have the opportunity to stop in and see a match at Oxley, it's well worth it. I stumbled upon it when I was a senior and was happy to luck into seeing the finals yesterday. See Cornell win a national championship (in anything) is crossed off the bucket list.

Cornell women repeat, [www.cornellbigred.com], beating Texas A&M in the finals, for the program's 15th national championship.

Cornell Sun reports on the Eldredges, coach and player.

And the Men lost to UVA in the semifinal 13-10 after leading 9-4 at the half: [www.cornellbigred.com]

Great article in Daily Sun about David E (coach) coaching his daughter AND winning back-to-back national titles. Very fun sport to watch, I encourage people to stop in and see them next season.

shasta1
Great article in Daily Sun about David E (coach) coaching his daughter AND winning back-to-back national titles. Very fun sport to watch, I encourage people to stop in and see them next season.

Second this, it's great to watch and polo people are very much like hockey people -- they will answer all your questions, at length.