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Even before Dr. Orion Paul Mercaitis saw Olivia Louise Stringer, he heard her trying to get a fractious horse to settle down in October 2023 in the back of a trailer at New Haven Farm in Aiken, S.C.
“I don’t have a string of polo ponies, so I had to lease one,” said Dr. Mercaitis, 35, who lives in Guilderland, N.Y., outside Albany, and is a senior manager in the United States market access division for oncology drugs at Pfizer, the pharmaceutical company.
When he landed that job, Mr. Mercaitis couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than playing in a three-day polo tournament a couple of weeks later in Aiken, alongside Adam Snow, a polo champion and an owner of New Haven Farm.
“Get on the horse,” said Ms. Stringer, when she brought out a thoroughbred named Flash, one of three ponies for him to try that day. “I’m pretty direct,” she added. “He definitely laughed.”
Ms. Stringer, 40, a professional women’s polo player, owns Liv Polo, which provides rentals, sales, training and coaching in Aiken and the Northeast. She started playing polo at 13, representing United States in matches in international women’s polo in India in 2018 and Australia in 2022.
Dr. Mercaitis, who graduated with high distinction with a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of California, Berkeley, fell in love with polo in his 20s while studying at Oxford, where he received a master’s degree in musculoskeletal sciences in 2020. He also has a medical degree from the University of Miami, and a Master of Public Health in epidemiology from Harvard.
After Dr. Mercaitis left Aiken, they sent each other texts about polo, shared photos of their dogs, and she sent him a few images of his favorite ponies.
“We were both being professional,” said Dr. Mercaitis, who thought “she was so perfect and unfathomable.” He figured he didn’t “have a chance.”
As New Year’s Eve approached and Ms. Stringer asked him if he had any plans, it seemed like an opening to him. He asked if she would like to celebrate at Wildflower Farms, a new Catskills resort in Gardiner, N.Y.
On Dec. 30 — after she visited family in Florida, then flew up to Albany — he drove them down to the Catskills.
On New Year’s Eve they had a first kiss, and as the band later played “Auld Lang Syne,” they began the year with another kiss and Champagne.
Before Ms. Stringer returned home, he gave her a tour of his hometown, the Albany area. He took her for flying lessons in Saratoga, N.Y., where she then flew a helicopter around the New York State Capitol.
After dinner on New Year’s Eve, they had a first kiss, and as the band later played “Auld Lang Syne,” they began the year with another kiss and Champagne.
Before Ms. Stringer returned home, he gave her a tour of his hometown, the Albany area. He took her for flying lessons in Saratoga, N.Y., where she then flew a helicopter around the New York State Capitol.
As New Year’s Eve approached and Ms. Stringer asked him if he had any plans, it seemed like an opening to him. He asked if she would like to celebrate at Wildflower Farms, a new Catskills resort in Gardiner, N.Y.
On Dec. 30 — after she visited family in Florida, then flew up to Albany — he drove them down to the Catskills.
“I had my Jack Russell, Comet, very much my sidekick,” Ms. Stringer said, and he brought his golden retriever Sirius (he named his polo team after him).
Last update: 13 January 2023
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