Travieso, one of the winningest teams since its Grand Champions Polo Club debut in 2015, won the season-opening Aspen Valley Cup.
Travieso, with father and son Teo and Tony Calle, Pedro Falabella and Lucas Arellano, led from start to finish to defeat Odosan (Misty Allen, Joe Chai, Nick Manifold, Joaquin Panelo), 15-9, to win the club’s first 8-goal title of the season.
Tony Calle, a sophomore at Lynn University, was named Most Valuable Player. Teo Calle’s grey gelding Nevado was named Best Playing Pony.
Team Travieso was dominant for most of the game jumping out to a 4-1 lead in the opening chukka and led 8-5 at halftime. Travieso was just as impressive in the second half leading 12-8 after the fifth chukka.
“It’s an incredible feeling to win the first tournament of the season,” Teo Calle said. “Today we had a good day. The field was fantastic. We have a great team. The players are all great. Everyone did what they were suppose to. They hit the ball, they were quick and fun. It was a really good day for us.”
The team had great chemistry particularly between father and son. “I try to play with Tony as much as I can,” Calle said. “You have to enjoy life as much as you can and I am trying to do that.”
Arellano, 16, son of Julio Arellano, one of America’s top polo players, played well. He was coming off his 20-goal stadium debut for Tonkawa in the Bobby Barry Cup semifinal. Tonkawa defeated Orchard Hill, 8-7, to advance into Tuesday’s final against Audi-Millarville.
“I am really happy with the win, it feels great,” Arellano said. “The 20-goal was great, it was a lot faster and a lot of fun playing inside the stadium. There’s a big difference with the 8-goal. Today’s game was really tough. We definitely played best in the first two chukkas and got a good lead. This is the best team to play with. We had a big break with all the rain so it was nice to get out there and play.”
Falabella scored a game-high six goals. Teo and Tony Calle each scored goals and Arellano added two goals. Travieso, a 7-goal team, got an additional goal on handicap. Manifold had a team-high 5 goals for Odosan. Panelo added three goals.
