SANTA BARBARA, CA. (June 20th, 2021) The 2021 USPA Intra-Circuit came to a thrilling close at the Santa Barbara Polo Club last weekend. The game took place in the US Polo Assn. Stadium with the first post-COVID crowd of spectators since Fall, 2019. To no surprise, the two teams came to the field ready, mounted with top-tier horses, and both putting in impressive effort to win. The BenSoleimani.com team donned their iconic Hulk jerseys to express their hero power polo.
Klentner Ranch displayed their own super powers by completely dominating the first two chukkers. Each member on the team had meaningful contributions to making the scoreboard 8-0 after only 15 minutes of polo play. Patrick Uretz produced two field goals and one penalty conversion. Jesse Bray had four goals, one being an impressive full-speed carry the length of the field on Indigo, his big black mare that has played the Intra-Circuit for the past seven years. Jake Klentner also put one up on the board and Justin Klentner displayed exactly how to play a game of exemplary defense.
The next four chukkers totally flipped with BenSoleimani.com shutting out Klentner Ranch. Again, each player contributed to the comeback in score. Remy Mueller headed this comeback with two field goals in the third chukker and another in the fourth. Inaki Laprida converted a crucial penalty two and took the ball by himself, weaving through players to score another. Ben Soleimani also drilled the ball through the posts in the fifth to put the score at 8-6 to Klentner Ranch going into the last chukker.
The sixth chukker flaunted quality polo with both teams still in the running. They battled out the final minutes of the game both playing their hardest. BenSoleimani.com was awarded multiple spot hits, but Klentner Ranch earned a critical penalty three which Patrick Uretz successfully converted, making the score 9-6 for Klentner Ranch. Bayne Bossom made a valiant effort to pull BenSoleimani.com back with a field goal, but with not quite enough time to win the game. The final score was 9-7 to Klentner Ranch.
Most Valuable Player went to Patrick Uretz for his consistent penalties, marking abilities, and powerful play. The Season MVP award went to Inaki Laprida for his impressive play during the entire two months of 12 goal polo. Ben Soleimani’s bay mare, “Mystery”, played by Remy Mueller was awarded Best Playing Pony. The award for Best String was given to Roberto Zedda’s barn of horses brought to Santa Barbara.
Dundas II won the subsidiary final of the Intra-Circuit 11-10 over Farmers and Merchants Bank. The Most Valuable Player award went to young player, Ryan Kerley, and the Best Playing Pony Award went to Geronimo Obregon’s chesnut mare, “Cambalache.”
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit our website, www.sbpolo.com.
Images: ©David Lominska
[ngg src=”galleries” ids=”1162″ display=”basic_thumbnail” thumbnail_crop=”0″]
