Krista Bonaguidi invited talented female polo players from California and Oregon to help her challenge Kauai Polo Club’s male players on Sunday. Trish Fitzgerald and Kate Weber both play for the El Dorado Polo Club in Indio, Calif. Malia McCoy
Krista Bonaguidi invited talented female polo players from California and Oregon to help her challenge Kauai Polo Club’s male players on Sunday.
Trish Fitzgerald and Kate Weber both play for the El Dorado Polo Club in Indio, Calif. Malia McCoy lives in Union, Ore. and plays for the Spokane Polo Club. All three are also professional polo pony trainers.
The ladies represented sponsor Savage Pearls. The gents represented Island Hardware. Heavy morning showers raised doubt about whether the match could be held.
Everyone was particularly conscious of safety. This would be Trish Fitzgerald’s first game in over a year after her horse fell, resulting in a serious break in Fitzgerald’s ankle. The clouds began to clear early in the afternoon. Just before game time the players walked the field and decided it would be safe to play.
Right after the bowl in for the first chukker, the ladies displayed the teamwork which marked their play throughout the match. Trish got control and worked the ball down toward the makai goal.
She slammed a backshot toward Kate Weber who was in front of the goal. Island Hardware’s Scott Sims was able to break that up but Kate did finally come up with the ball and passed it to Malia McCoy in center field. Malia drove down field, kept control and scored for Savage Pearls.
Scott Sims and Diego Bayugar each started drives toward the goal later in the chukker, only to be frustrated by determined Savage Pearls defenders.
Chukker two opened with Scott Sims aggressively riding off his opponents and just missing a shot on goal. The play went back and forth until Diego was able to complete a long pass to Scott who scored easily, tying the game. After the halftime divot stomp, both teams came out charging. Krista Bonaguidi substituted for Trish Fitzgerald and Peter Cameron came in for Kamalu Sheldon on the Island Hardware team.
Savage Pearls showed even better teamwork than in the first half. To paraphrase Kauai Polo president Ron Bonaguidi’s, they put on a textbook demonstration of how polo should be played. When one got to the ball, her teammates would form a line behind her. If she missed or had a problem, the next in line was there to take over.
As an example, Krista took a shot which fell short and wide of the goal. Malia charged in to save the ball from going over the end line. Kate followed her and passed right back to Malia who scored with a clear shot on goal.
The play ranged back and forth with lots of hooking and riding off. Kate Weber finally was able to clear the ball from Diego Bayugar and set it up for Malia, who drove it through the pylons for her third goal. The chukker ended with Savage Pearls leading 3-1.
In the first minute of chukker four, Malia challenged Scott Sims, stole the ball and outran him for a quick score. During the bowl in, Diego stayed in the thick of things and lined up for a shot which didn’t get away cleanly. Scott was able to pick it up and score. The guys were teaming up more but really feeling the pressure.
Later, with only a minute left in the game, Malia was able to take the ball away from Diego. She passed it to Kate, who drove down a ways and passed it back to Malia who scored once more at the 30 second bell. The match ended with Savage Pearls leading 5-2. Malia dominated the scoring, but she’d be the first to say it was made possible by teamwork.
