Steve Van Andel’s Orchard Hill team overcame injury and the odds to defeat a tough Dubai team in the final of the 112th U.S. Open Polo Championship at International Polo Club Palm Beach in Wellington, Florida on April 24.

Van Andel first started riding when he was 30 at the urging of his first wife, Cindy, who loved riding. He began by learning to jump, but he felt something was missing. A few years later, Cindy took him to a Gold Cup game in Florida, and he found what he was looking for.

“I love team sports—polo is a team sport. Nobody really cares how well you ride, they only care how many times the ball goes through the goal. I said I can do this! The very next day I bought two polo ponies and started my polo career,” said Van Andel. “I played indoors for four or five years before moving outdoors.”

In the early 90s, Van Andel decided to take a sabbatical and go to Florida to play for a season. He has not looked back since. He started in the 8 goal for a few years before stepping up to the 14 goal, then the 20 and eventually, the 26 goal. Except for one season when he injured his eye, he has played each year since the late 1990s. He made the finals of the Open a few times, but the trophy had largely eluded him. Though he would have liked to have won it, it was not always a priority.

“Everyone wants to win, but part of me also just loves the sport and the camaraderie. Part of it is just a get-away from my day job. ... I’m up in Michigan three or four days a week, then in Florida for long weekends. For me, it is a great break for a couple of months, so I looked at it a little differently when I first started,” said Van Andel.

“About three years ago, I put a concerted effort; I said, look, I don’t have that much time left,” he explained. “I said we’ve got to make a run and figure out how to do this. That is when Facundo came on board and we really started putting the organization together to try and win and bought horses.”

The organization began looking for horses in Europe, Argentina and the U.S. Diva Dos was one of the horses they bought in England two years ago. “Facundo played her a bit and was real excited [about her],” explained Van Andel. She was recovering from an injury her first year in the U.S., so this was the first year she played in the Open, and she proved invaluable.

With a solid string of top ponies, and a pair of talented 10-goalers to anchor the team, Van Andel was confident the team was ready to take on the best of the best. Orchard Hill got off to a solid start in the 26-goal season by defending its title in the C.V. Whitney Cup. The team came from behind in the last chukker of the final to overtake Audi.

Later that week, eight teams debuted in the USPA Gold Cup. Valiente II did not continue on, but Dubai and Flex Jet started their 26-goal season.

Orchard Hill narrowly lost its first game to Lucchese, 13-12 and fell to a powerful Dubai team 10-7. It saved itself with a 12-10 victory over White Birch, followed by a 12-9 defeat of Flex Jet. In the latter game, Facundo Pieres had broken a bone in his right hand so he had Hilario Ulloa, whose team was eliminated, fill in for him. During the game, Polito Pieres fell with his horse, causing a third-degree shoulder separation and snapping the ligament that holds the collarbone in place. He needed surgery and was out for the season. “We were going to try to give [Facundo] a little bit more time off, so when Polito got hurt, and Facundo was hurt, I thought the season was over, to be honest with you,” said Van Andel. “Lucas Criado has been with me for years and he stepped in and played the rest of the game. We managed to win.”

The U.S. Open was starting in less than 10 days and the Orchard Hill team was down a 10-goal player. Pieres mounted up for the Gold Cup semifinal against Audi with Ulloa taking Polito’s place. “We didn’t make that one, but I didn’t expect to because Facundo could barely hold on to a mallet,” said Van Andel.

Finding a comparable replacement this late in the game is difficult, if not impossible. As luck would have it, the high-goal season in the Dominican Republic was just coming to an end. The team contacted 10-goal Juan Martin Nero, who had been competing there, to see if he was available.

Facundo Pieres said, “The season got tough after my injury and Polito’s. That is when I thought we’d have a hard time. Juan Martin Nero confirmed he’d join us only a few days before the beginning of the U.S. Open, but when he started to play with us and the team worked together, I knew we had a chance.”

Nero finished a 26-goal tournament in the Dominican on Saturday, April 2. Later that day, he was on a plane to Florida, arriving at 1 a.m., and played with Orchard Hill in its first Open game less than 12 hours later, getting to know his horses and teammates on the fly. Nero seemed no worse for wear as he helped Orchard Hill rack up five goals while shutting out Audi in the first two periods.

Although Audi came alive in the second half, Orchard Hill won thanks to the five-goal lead secured in the first half. Facundo said, “Now we have a week to figure out the next game, and Juan Martin will know more about the horses.”

Orchard Hill’s next game was against John Muse’s Lucchese. With a strong No. 3 in Nero in the line-up, Facundo was playing the No. 1 position with Van Andel at back, while De Lusarreta played No. 2. After Lucchese took an early lead, the Orchard Hill line-up began to click in the second half, and Orchard Hill went on to win 11-9. The team was getting stronger and downed Flex Jet 14-8 in its last preliminary game, putting it in first place in its bracket and advancing to the semis.

In the other bracket, Dubai, with Adolfo Cambiaso at the helm, was dominating. The team featured Rashid Albwardy playing in the U.S. for the first time along with Alejo Taranco and Facundo Sola. The Dubai organization collaborated with Valiente to have the best horses for the Florida season.

Dubai sat out the C.V. Whitney, but came on strong in the Gold Cup. It led Bracket I, winning its games by an average of 4½ goals to earn a spot in the semifinals. It topped Coke 11-9 to advance to the final against Audi, after Audi’s elimination of Orchard Hill. In that event, Dubai edged Audi 11-12 and asserted itself as the clear favorite for the Open.

When Dubai shut down Coke 14-8 in its first Open game, it confirmed it was going to be tough to stop. It defeated Valiente 9- 6, then slammed White Birch 14-6.

After a “mini-quarter final” Audi earned a spot in the semifinal against Dubai. Dubai led throughout the first five chukkers, going into the final period ahead by five. Audi stepped up the pressure and began to close the gap, but time ran out with Dubai ahead 13-11.

In the other semifinal, Orchard Hill faced White Birch. Although Orchard Hill entered the second half with a three-goal lead, a few careless fouls resulted in a White Birch rally. When the teams were tied at 8 with time expired, the game went into an extra chukker, in which Pieres seized an undefended opportunity from the 30-yard line for the 9-8 victory.

“I remember going to the final in 2001. It was a totally different game back then. Nobody had a string of 12 horses. You had a string of three or four really good horses at best and you could still get into the final. You could still be competitive and that is not the way it is today. Today, you’ve got eight teams and all of them are competitive,” said Van Andel.

“Every game is going to be tough, whether we were going against Audi in our first game, or White Birch in the semis, it is going to be a tough game. You’ve got to know what you are going to do and adjust if you need to. … We hadn’t played White Birch and they had changed their team a little bit. We had to adjust with them. It was Juan Martin and Facundo’s [fourth] game. They had [three] strong games and they relaxed just a bit. It was a good thing we got over the top when we did, because that went into overtime and it was anybody’s game.”

The final was set for four days later when Dubai would take on Orchard Hill. The matchup was similar to the previous year’s open final when Orchard Hill faced Valiente, led by Cambiaso and Taranco, in which Orchard Hill was up by two with just over two minutes remaining, only to lose the match in a 10-9 heartbreaker. In that last two minutes, Valiente was awarded a Penalty 1, then scored on an ensuing 15-yard throw-in, then was awarded a Penalty 2.

This year, Facundo Pieres struck first, but Sola responded with a field goal, then a Penalty 3 conversion. Cambiaso scored from the field for a 3-1 lead. Pieres sunk a Penalty 3 early in the second, but Albwardy scored for Dubai. Pieres scored again to keep Orchard Hill close, 4-3. A Penalty 3 conversion early in the third tied the score and a when Pieres sunk a Penalty 6, Orchard Hill had the lead. Cambiaso sunk his own Penalty 6 to tie the score at 5, but goals by De Lusarreta and Nero put Orchard Hill ahead by two, 7-5 at the half.

“It is always tough when you play a team with Adolfo,” said Van Andel. “We said the score is going to go up and down, but we are going to be in a position to win, so at no point in the game can we give up and it doesn’t matter when it is. That is how we played the game, especially as we got towards the end when the score was close and it kept going back and forth.”

In the fourth, Sola and Cambiaso combined for three goals to take the lead, but Pieres sunk a Penalty 2 to tie the score at 8-all. In the fifth, Cambiaso scored a pair of goals to jump ahead, but another Penalty 2 conversion by Pieres cut the lead to one going into the sixth.

Cambiaso scored a safety early in the sixth but, Pieres answered with a Penalty 2, then a field goal for the tie. With two minutes left, the umpires blew the whistle on Van Andel near the goal. “When that foul blew, I remembered the game from the previous year when we were at about the same point, ahead by two goals but it didn’t end up that way. I was mad at myself because I wasn’t watching the ball and crossed over,” explained Van Andel.

Cambiaso slipped in a Penalty 2, but moments after the throw-in, with 50 seconds on the clock, Cambiaso was whistled on a play near the goal. The umpire awarded a Penalty 2 to Orchard Hill. Pieres found the goal to tie it up and force overtime. As the teams came back for the overtime chukker, they were on their best horses ready for battle. Nero was on a pretty grey mare with a funny brown spot on her side, whom he had played in two other chukkers, including when he made an incredible 80-yard neck to goal. It was apparent he liked her.

Cambiaso won the first throw-in and passed to Albwardy in front of the goal. “I did the best I could to push Rashid over the ball so he couldn’t hit. I was looking at him and saw him swing but had no idea whether it was in or out. All of a sudden I turned around and saw Facundo hit to Nero who was taking it up the boards. I thought, we’re still in the game,” said Van Andel.

Pieres’ mallet broke, but luckily, the ball took a hop over the sidelines giving him time to get a new mallet. After a few scrambles Nero hopped on the line and made an open backshot directly to Facundo, who, with an opponent on his hip, necked the ball at a difficult angle from 65 yards, finding the mark. Victory was for Orchard Hill.

“When Juan Martin hit the backshot to Facundo and I saw the flag go up, I was so focused, I thought, did it really happen? It didn’t sink in,” said Van Andel.

For Facundo, the moment was a mix of joy and relief. “Orchard Hill is an old organization, almost 20 years old, and has not won the tournament in the last four years. Last years’s defeat [after] being so close was sad. That is why it was important that we won. I celebrated a lot because I felt like I removed a thorn from my side!”

The crowd went wild and the Orchard Hill corner erupted into cheers. It seemed the team had beaten the odds. Facundo Pieres was awarded the Seymour Knox MVP for his efforts, scoring 11 of 13 goals. Diva Dos, the grey mare played by Juan Martin Nero, was named the Willis Hartman Best Playing Pony Award.

“Any time you lift a cup as coveted as the U.S. Open, it is a special moment. [My] first [U.S. Open victory] was special because I won it with [my brothers] Gonzalo and Nicolás playing for Audi. Then I moved to Zacara, another great organization, and won it with Magoo Laprida, one of my closest friends. This one is special because of all the suffering and because of the patron,” said Pieres. “Steve is a great guy. When we started playing together, I told him we’d need to buy horses to improve the organization. Luckily, he understood and we did it.”

It was a special time for Van Andel. His first wife passed away in 2011 after 32 years of marriage. The day after the Open victory, he was celebrating his first anniversary with his second wife, Amy.

This season introduced the new international rules in an effort to speed up the game and make it more consistent throughout the world. Officials from the U.S., Argentine and British polo associations worked for the past year to come up with a common set of rules.

“I guess it was better this year than previous seasons,” Pieres said. “Playing with the [International] rules was good. The idea of having less fouls is good too, although sometimes they stop to discuss it for too long and that drags the match on.

“A six-chukker match can’t last more than two hours and we had some that were even longer than that. In addition, I guess we offered a great final, and that is essential for polo’s inclusion in the media. You need to provide a good show, because that is what makes people want to watch and play. You need to get people more involved.”

Facundo is now in England, where he won both the Queen’s and Gold Cups with King Power Foxes last year. The team had to make a line-up change after Hugo Lewis was raised to 2 goals. This year, the team will introduce José Ramón Araya, a young Argentine talent. Pieres anticipates a competitive season.

“Everything points to final games against Dubai. This is a great team with top quality players as Cambiaso and Nero. Any team that wants to win major tournaments needs to defeat Dubai, and it is a complicated undertaking for anyone.” Next, he heads to Argentina, where the Pieres’ Ellerstina is likely to face Nero and Cambiaso in at least one of the finals.

Facundo will be back with Van Andel to defend the C.V. Whitney and Open titles, hopefully with a healthy Polito. “I was happy we found a replacement, but I felt bad for Polito. He was able to have surgery within 48 hours of the injury and should be back within a month, so he’ll be ready for next season. I’d like to win it with him,” said Van Andel.

By Gwen Rizzo Ernesto Rodriguez contributed to this report.