Mon 24th Mar 2025Park Place Win USPA Gold Cup Final Overtime thriller at NPC
On Sunday 23 March at the National Polo Center in Wellington, Coca-Cola and Park Place went head-to-head in The USPA Gold Cup Final – the second phase of the Gauntlet of Polo series.
Coca-Cola got off to a strong start leading 3-1 in the first chukka, but Park Place swiftly found their form in the second chukka and managed to narrowly maintain the lead throughout the match until an equalising goal from Coca-Cola in the sixth chukka pushed the match into a nerve-wracking over time chukka. As the players returned to NPC’s Field One, the packed grandstands were on the edge of the seats, as were viewers across the globe tuning in to watch the Final live on the USPA’s Polo Network; who would be the first to score and secure the title? As Louis Hine ran to goal, the whistle blew against Coca-Cola and a penalty hit taken by Hilario Ulloa was lined up. Ulloa, who has been on excellent penalty form throughout the Gauntlet with an impressive 100% accuracy scoring penalties goals converting 22 of 22, coolly lined up and struck the ball home to secure Park Place The USPA Gold Cup title 10 goals to 9.
Hine was chosen as the Most Valuable Player, despite being only 19-years-old and 5 goals the English player has impressed throughout the tournament especially with his nearside accuracy. 5, the memorable and lightening quick grey played and owned by Peke Gonzalez was deservedly awarded the Best Playing Pony honour.
The win was additionally special for Park Place as they played in memory of Rufino Laulhé who was about to begin his first season on Palm Beach with Park Place before the 15-year-old tragically lost his life in a car crash in January. Park Place’s Captain, Ulloa, spoke movingly after the match, “I want to honour Rufo Lauhlé today; we had a tough start of the season. I was much looking forward to playing with him, because he was supposed to be one of the biggest stars of the future, a future 10-goaler. It was very hard for all of us. Obviously, Louis (Hine) did an amazing job, but this final has been very emotional due to what happened in January, for whom we played for, Rufo… I know he worked hard for us, for this group of people. As a matter of fact, today, we were five guys – Louis did great on the field, but no doubts Rufo probably was around here, so he has a bit of this”.
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The USPA Gold Cup Final Teams:
Coca-Cola (22): Gillian Johnston (0), Julián de Lusarreta (7), Lorenzo Chavanne (6) & Polito Pieres (9)
Park Place (22): Andrey Borodin (0), Hilario Ulloa (10), Peke Gonzalez (7) & Louis Hine (5)
Photograph: Park Place (L-R: Peke Gonzalez, Hilario Ulloa, Andrey Borodin & Louis Hine) winners of The USPA Gold Cup. By David Lominska
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