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 quarterfinal 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 lead. 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. Unfortunately 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 persevere 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.
