While reveling in the glory the day after my beloved Syracuse’s 11-6 victory over Maryland in the quarterfinals of the NCAA men’s lacrosse tournament, I must have misplaced my phone.
Too bad, because I missed quite an important phone call — one I didn’t actually get until I listened to the messages on Monday afternoon.
It turned out to be St. Joseph basketball coach Vito Montelli. With cheering fans in the background, Montelli explained in a phone message that he and his family were down in Annapolis, Md.
“We had a doubleheader today,” said Montelli, the dean of high school basketball coaches. “First we were at George Washington because my granddaughter graduated today. Then we drove to Annapolis and… we had two happy occasions today.”
I already knew where this was going. Montelli’s grandson is Tom Montelli, the former all-state lacrosse defenseman at Weston, who now plays a Duke.
“Duke wins NC 12-11 and advance to Final Four,” his grandfather continued. “But more important, Tommy Montelli, my grandson, scored the winning goal. And … they were ahead 12-8 and held on to win. I said I had to call Sean and tell him.”
Thanks coach. So here’s a big congrats to Tommy for his heads-up goal, which is quite rare for a long-stick defenseman (which brings to mind the way former Syracuse classmate and long-stick middie Marshall Abrams used to score for SU back in my day).
Rarer still, the goal turned out to be the margin of victory for the Blue Devils.
I’m sure the Montelli clan will be taking the short trip up to Foxborough, Mass. for the NCAA Final Four on Saturday.
Duke’s opponent is, of course, my alma mater.
Sorry, coach. Gotta root for Syracuse on this one.
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