twist when younger teams knocked out the more experienced and well-know duo’s for each school. First, on the St. John’s side, Stephen Monterio and Linus Feder, who beat their own Imperial Wicket, Myers, and his partner Tex Pasley.
“Definitely underestimated Linus and Ste- phen,” said Myers. “Tey were a wildcard team. It was Linus’ first time playing at Nationals and Stephen had been playing six wicket for two and a half weeks. Tex and I took unnecessary risks with them, tried shots we wouldn’t think about in other circumstances, never expected that they would catch up to us -- much less that they would gain a five-wicket lead on us. We could have come back, but the last pivotal shots that we had to make for that to hap- pen we choked during.”
On the New Paltz side, Tim Mullen and Palasieski were also strong in defeating the experienced team of Justin Berbig and Dave Cohen to advance to the finals.
“Tim controlled the beginning of the game,” said Palasieski. “Justin made the first move for wicket two and went partner dead clanking the hoop giving me a four ball break which I managed to score a few hoops with. From there we kept Justin part- ner dead while running small breaks. We managed to tie the game up shortly before last turn and Tim scored the final hoop for the win in overtime.”
So the stage was set and near the end of the day, the final game drew a large crowd. While Palasieski and Mullen from New Paltz started out strong, Feder made an astonishing comeback for St. John’s near the end. With a three-ball break in prog- ress, Feder called a timeout with thirteen seconds leſt on the clock.
Aſter consulting with his partner, he was able to successfully run seven wickets, picking up the fourth ball along the way, but it wasn’t quite enough to pull off the win and so the celebration began. Te New Paltz team flooded the field to tackle their two co-presidents who had just delivered the six-wicket national title and ended St. John’s seven-year reign.
“Our strategy was to play it safe and wait for the other team to make the first move,” said Palasieski. “Tey might be our rivals, but we were never theirs. Now we’ve pushed the Navy out.”
However, Justin Berbig, former president of
New Paltz’s Len Lavallee in action Photo by Vicky Haralam
SUNY New Paltz disagreed, “I don’t think that St. John’s is our rival. It is more that they have also been on top of the college croquet world and that they were just the team to beat.”
Anne Morris, USCA Collegiate Chairman, had a slightly different take on the rivalry and New Paltz altogether.
“New Paltz and St. John’s is the new rivalry.
I think New Paltz will be the next big team. Tey are such a community. Tey do almost everything together. I really think they will be successful.”
Whether or not New Paltz and St. John’s develops into the new collegiate croquet rivalry, the fact is that SUNY New Paltz is the new champion and will wear the target next year. And one thing seems clear -- rain or shine, New Paltz will be tough to beat. •
may-june 2011 |
croquetnetwork.com | 19
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28