By Sarah Eakin
The National Polo Center’s winter season ended in an International Match nail-biter, as Team USA and Uruguay went into overtime on Sunday, April 27. Wellington resident and Uruguayan national Nachi Viana scoring the sudden death goal to give his country an 11-10 victory over the home team.
“We wanted to enjoy playing for our country — it is something unique, and it doesn’t happen every year,” Viana said. “So, we just wanted to have fun. We wanted to enjoy the opportunity to play.”
Uruguay took an early 4-0 lead thanks to a goal on handicap, a penalty from Nachi and two goals from Santiago “Santi” Stirling, as the pair demonstrated the potential of their partnership on U.S. Polo Assn. Field One in the first chukker.
“We started very well, and then we knew that it was going to be really tough because obviously they have an amazing team and they’re really, really well-mounted,” said Stirling of team USA, led by Wellington favorite Nic Roldan, lining up alongside Grant Ganzi, Matias González and Tommy Collingwood.
Team USA began to level the playing field in the second chukker and closed a halftime 6-4 deficit to a goal entering the final chukker of regulation time.
A penalty one and a goal each from Roldan and González could have spelled victory for the home crowd, had Viana not saved Uruguay’s chances with a goal in the final seconds of regulation play, to push the match into overtime.
Uruguay was on a slight learning curve coming into the International Match. Matias, Nachi and Santi had all played together in the FIP World Polo Championship at NPC in 2022, but 16-year-old Benicio Laguarda was new, added to the lineup when they finalized the team two weeks prior to the match.
In addition, all four players were riding horses supplied by Argentine polo player Matias Magrini and his breeding operation, Don Ercole S.A., for the occasion — a purposeful strategy to compensate for the extenuating circumstances facing an “away” team, with Viana the only player with a base and horses in Wellington. “It’s very difficult when you’re not playing the season here in America and you only come to play one game,” Stirling said. “Matias [Magrini] has a good organization, so we decided to talk to him and rent horses for the whole team.”
Nachi got the most out of his horsepower, not least Don Ercole’s Panamera, who he played in the second, fifth and critical overtime chukker to warrant Best Playing Pony for the effort.
Roldan, who has represented Team USA on the world stage on several occasions, showed pride, coupled with humility, in defeat. “It’s always an honor to play for your country,” he said. “We win or lose as a team. We had our chances, and Uruguay had an amazing effort. They played great, and at the end of the day, they were the stronger team today.”
Read more by equestrian writer Sarah Eakin at www.paperhorsemedia.com.
