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The New England Women's Pool Tour held it's
third WPBA Qualifer of the season at Silver Cue
Billiards Club in Woburn, MA. Despite the rain there
was a full field of players. The pool hall recently
replaced all the tables with Brunswick Gold Crown 3
and 4's. The tables were a bit on the fast side but
otherwise played great.
The final matches were a clash of the titans, as
all the competitors were former tour stop champions.
Stacie Bourbeau defeated Nicole Albergaria and Liz
Taylor, among others, to take the hot seat. Thus
begun the long wait for her opponent in the finals,
something which has given Bourbeau trouble in the
past.
Albegaria was defeated by Bourbeau in the first
round but steadily made her way through the one-loss
bracket to face Wendy Snow, who won the U.S. Amateur
Championship the previous weekend, in the quartfinal
match. Snow had been playing well all day, her only
loss being to Stacie Bourbeau, but couldn't fend off
Albergaria who won the match 7-4.
Albegaria went on to face another of Bourbeau's
victims, Liz Taylor, in the semi final. Albegaria
won the lag and after a long first game took the
first win of the match. Not one to be left behind,
in game two Taylor rolled past her position zone on
the 2 ball but was able to carom in the 4 ball and
finish the rack to tie up the match. Overrunning
position, perhaps due to the speed of the table,
would prove to be a recurring issue for Taylor. In
game three Taylor was forced to play safe early in
the rack because of this but won the game anyway. In
game four Taylor ended up very straight on the 6
ball. In an attempt to draw back for position she
hit the ball thicker than intended and drew straight
back into the corner pocket. With ball-in-hand
Albergaria won that game then the next two for a 4-
2. Albergaria failed to pocket a ball on the next
break and Taylor ran out. Taylor kept winning and
pulled herself into a 6-4 lead. Albergaria made a
very difficult cut shot on 8 ball to win her fifth
game of the match. She looked set to join Taylor on
the hill in the next game but got a very bad roll on
the 9 ball and missed the bank shot.
Taylor pocketed the 9 to win the match 7-6.
Taylor rematched Bourbeau in the finals. The
women traded games until the match was tied at 4-4.
Game 9 was long and full of defensive shots but
eventually Bourbeau potted the 9 and took the lead
in the match. In the next game Bourbeau left Taylor
hooked on the 4 ball but she was able to pocket it
on a spectacular jump shot and got good position on
the 5 ball. Unfortunatley she must have caught a
case of 'post good shot let down syndrome' becuse
she jumped up while stroking and hung the 5.
Bourbeau finished the rack to get to the hill.
Long waits for the final match may have
affected Bourbeau in the past and even in this
tournament but despite this she was able to perservere and
won the next game to take the match 7-4.
Stacie Bourbeau will be playing at the WPBA
Championship November 12-16, 2008 at the Seminole
Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, FL.
Results:
1st Stacie Bourbeau- $200 and $500 paid WPBA entry fee
2nd Liz Taylor- $125
3rd Nicole Albergaria- $80
4th Wendy Snow- $50
5th/6th Diana Howland, Bonnie Saritelli
7th/8th Erica Testa, Nicole Christie
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