After the first three Samsung Super League Nations Cups, the U.S. stood atop the leaderboard. The lead-off team of Laura Kraut, Schuyler Riley, Georgina Bloomberg, Beezie Madden and Anne Kursinski had secured the lead with a victory in La Baule (France), second in Rome (Italy) and a fourth in St. Gallen (Switzerland).

But, after a nail-biting finish on June 17 in Rotterdam (the Netherlands), Switzerland has now taken over. Their win garnered them enough points to edge into the lead, while the second U.S. team of Aaron Vale, Callan Solem, Christine Tribble and Todd Minikus, finished eighth and last. That performance dropped the United States to second in the Super League standings with 21.5 points. Switzerland leads with 22 points, and Germany lurks in third with 21 points. Great Britain, in fourth with 20.5 points, is also a hot contender.

The U.S. team was behind from the start in Rotterdam, standing seventh after round 1. Vale and Artur had posted 8 faults, with Solem riding Allison to the team\’s only clean round all day. Tribble and Vegas put 4 faults on the board, and Minikus and Flier turned in 8 faults.

The Swiss were foot-perfect in Round 1, with three clean rounds from Markus Fuchs, Steve Guerdat and Fabio Crotta. The final Swiss combination, Pius Schwizer and unique, didn\’t have to jump the first round, since they couldn\’t have improved on the score.

Round 2 brought no better luck for the U.S. team. Vale and Artur chalked up 12 more faults, and Solem couldn\’t replicate their first effort, collecting 12 faults. Tribble and Minikus duplicated their first-round scores (8 and 4 faults, respectively). The total of 36 faults put them far, far behind.

But Germany turned up the pressure on Switzerland in round 2. Standing second after round 1 with just 4 faults, they added just 8 more in Round 2. Christian Ahlman, on Coster, and Marcus Ehning, on Gitania, each had clear trips in both rounds, but when Lars Nieberg had a 15-fault go on Lucie in round 2, they had to drop his score and keep Meredith Michaels Beerbaum\’s 8 faults.

Switzerland looked to have it all wrapped up as their final rider—Pius Schwizer—started. Fuchs and Guerdat\’s clean second rounds meant that they could drop Crotta\’s 16-fault second round score if they needed to. But then Schwizer\’s horse, Unique, stopped at the next-to-last fence on course. With the refusal, the time penalties, and the rail they lowered in the final combination, Schwizer and Unique ended up with 11 faults—just barely enough to keep them in front of Germany\’s total of 12.

The next stop for the Super League tour is Hickstead (Great Britain) on July 29, then Dublin (Ireland) on Aug. 5. The team of Vale, Tribble, Solem and Minikus will contest those two events, while an as-yet-unnamed third team with finish up the league at Aachen (Germany) on Aug. 26 and in the Final in Barcelona (Spain) on Sept. 16.