"LIKE OREOS AND MILK!"
by Mike
Panozzo
Shannon Daulton, firing his way through the tournament's most pressure-packed match, put the U.S. team on the brink of victory at the 2000 Acclaim Mosconi Cup with a 5-3 win over European captain Ralf Souquet Sunday night at York Hall in London. The win gave the Americans an 11-8 lead in the event, with 12 match wins needed to secure the title.
Daulton battled the German star blow-for-blow in the race-to-five alternate break match. With Souquet breaking first, the two traded perfect run-outs through the first four games. Souquet's lone mistake of the match came in the fifth game, when he jawed a 5 ball. Daulton raced through the rack, then held his on break to lead 4-2. Souquet answered in the seventh game, but sat despondently, head in hands, as Daulton broke and carefully worked his way through the clinching rack. With the pro-Euro crowd
occasionally badgering the Kentuckian, Daulton paused before pocketing the final 9 and exclaimed, "I mean, this is over!"
"This is the most pressure I've ever felt, and the best win I've ever had," said the 28-year-old Daulton. "It's like Oreos and milk, it doesn't get any better than this!
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A jubilant Shannon Daulton celebrated his key 5-3 win over Ralf Souquet Sunday night at the Mosconi Cup, putting the American team on
victory's doorstep.
Photo by
Lawrence Lustig
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"We were a little down in the practice room this afternoon after letting the four-game lead slip to two," he continued. "I knew this might be the match of the tournament, so I knew I had to win. Fortunately, I played my best match of the tournament."
Jeremy Jones will try to close down the seventh edition of the Mosconi Cup when he faces Sweden's Marcus Chamat. Earl Strickland would play Germany's Thomas Engert if Jones fails to pocket the tournament-ending 9 ball.
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European captain Ralf Souquet tried to fight back tears after dropping his Sunday night Mosconi Cup match to the U.S.'s Shannon Daulton, 5-3.
Photo by
Lawrence Lustig |
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