Heys USA captures 2012 Maserati
South Beach Women’s Polo Cup

By Alex Webbe

Eight teams of some of the country’s top women players took to the sands of south
Beach on Thursday, April 26th to compete in the opening day of the eighth annual
Maserati Miami Beach Polo World Cup.

Day one brought the Maserati South Beach Women’s Polo Cup to an enthusiastic
audience of polo fans and sports enthusiasts.

The elite bracket of competition was captured by the Heys USA team of Cecelia
Cochran, Diana Jack and Alicia Harden, who took top honors with a hard fought 3-1 win
over a talented Lufthansa Private Jet team of Valerie Biehl, Pamela Flanagan and Laura
Willson.

Lufthansa Private Jet got into trouble early on with Cecelia Cochran converting a pair
of penalty shots and Diana Jack scoring from the field for a 3-1 lead in the opening
chukker of play. Laura Willson scored Lufthansa’s only goal of the chukker.

Second period play favored the Heys USA team once again with long runs and ball
control frustrating a Lufthansa Private Jet team that fought to get back into play.

While Lufthansa Private Jet scored an earlier 3-1 win over Maserati they couldn’t seem
to get a handle on the Heys USA team. With neither team able to score in the second
chukker, Heys USA celebrated the 3-1 win for the tournament championship.

Cecelia Cochran was named MVP while Jennifer Williams’ Shy Fox was honored
as Best Playing Pony. Shy Fox is a fifteen-year-old chestnut mare with white blaze.
Williams played her in the WTC Finals 0-2 goal bracket placing 2nd out of 4 teams, the
WTC qualifier in the Villages 4 goal - won, Palm City WTC qualifier – won. Shy Fox
won the Gulfstream Ladies Invitational, Port Mayaca WCT - 2nd out of 4 teams. Shy
Fox came out of the S. K. Johnson/Gillian Johnson Coca Cola breeding line.

The Bulgari team (Scarlet Davenport, Cristina Hosmer and Maggie McNamara) took
the top spot in the lower bracket of play with a 1-0 defensive win over a Ciroc trio
that included Josefina Gonzalez, Danielle Sciaretta and Liselotte Sandberg. Cristina
Hosmer scored the winning goal in the contest.

Bulgari snuck its way into its bracket final with a 4-3 double overtime shootout win
over The Raleigh (Aimee Waters, Misty Allen and Slaney O’Hanlon). Ciroc scored

a preliminary 2-1 victory over E! Entertainment (Debra Atwell, Annaleise Atwell and
Stephanie Kraml-Suttle). Maggie McNamara was named MVP.

The two finals culminated a day in which over twenty five players and 100 horses
competed for tournament bragging rights.

“I can’t put into words just what a great time it was,” said Lufthansa Private Jet’s Pamela
Flanagan. “This was absolutely the best time!” she added.

Flanagan, a senior at SMU where she is the captain of the women’s polo team had just
finished competing in regional competition where she scored 18 goals in one match!
She wasn’t the only collegiate star on the beach. This year’s Gascon entry featured
Julia Steiner and Kylee Sheehan, two members of this year’s intercollegiate National
Championship University of Virginia women’s polo team.

“We’re going to try and return next year with our entire team,” said Sheehan. “We had a
great time.”

The balance of the weekend was filled with parties and polo as the men’s team took
center stage in the Maserati Miami beach Polo World Cup.

The balance of the teams competing were: Gascon (Tara Lordi, Melissa Hornung, Julia
Steiner and Kylee Sheehan); Maserati (Lynn O’Connor, Jennifer Williams and Jolie
Liston); E! Entertainment.

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