This year we introduce the new Beaufort Ladies 8 – 12 Goal Tournament, offering a chance for ladies to complete on the same stage as the high goal Ladies teams. Four teams were to contest this tournament, including a sponsored Sports HAI team who started the proceedings with a landslide 9 – 1 ½ victory against Beaufort. In the second game, Areda and Pro-Fit remained closely matched in the first half with only a half goal between them at tread-in. However, Areda gained momentum in the second half and left Pro-Fit chasing their tails as they ran on to a 6 ½ – 3 win.
The Subsidiary Final featured Beaufort and Pro-Fit. The initial intent came from Beaufort, adding the opening goal to their handicap start of 2. Pro-Fit had a lot of work to do but began to creep up the score board to put themselves within one goal of levelling by half time. Beaufort struggled to hold this lead and Pro Fit made it 4 – 3 by the end of the third. The fourth and final chukka would be a goal less tussle, with the final claxon sounding in Pro-Fit’s favour.
It fell to Areda and Sports HAI to conclude proceedings of the Sports HAI Ladies 8 -12 on the Swinhay No. 1 Ground. It was a tough contest of excellent open polo, in which Sports HAI played well, but Areda’s big hitting players dominated. Lucy Coddington would get the Areda assault underway with a textbook 40-yard penalty. Sports HAI had a chance to level the scores with a penalty of their own, but it was snatched away by Lucy. In the final seconds of the first chukka, Rosie Ross belted the ball between the posts to score making it 2 – 0. Farida ‘Freddie’ Rosso Baldachino would create a scorching run to goal, only for it to be deftly stolen at the last moment by Ross, once again denying Sports HAI a chance to add to their side of the scoreboard. However, a good send up by Aurora Eastwood allowed Olivia Lamphee to secure the first goal for Sports HAI, but it would be their only score on the board, despite some impressive team work from Lamphee and Kiki Severn. The score was very close at half time at 2 -1 ½, but Areda began to pull ahead throughout the second half. Ross and Coddington played with intense determination, stealing the ball from the mouth of the goal twice, adding to Areda’s tally. A 30-yard penalty from Lucy and a scintillating run from the line out to the goal by Rosie sealed Sports HAI’s fate with a final score at the cry of the bell being 6 to 1 ½.
Prizes for both the Subsidiary and Final were kindly sponsored and presented by Sports HAI’s Grace Hilliar and Women In Polo’s Sarah Wood. Women In Polo also provided the prize for Best Playing Pony – won by Olivia Lamphee’s Poppy a retrained racehorse who has played every single game with Olivia for two seasons now – and Most Valuable Player, which was awarded to Lucy Coddington.