Harvard, Penn, Cornell, Yale battle to be Ivy League Champion on Sept 27 !

Lloyd, Colin Michael Jodah, Shiv Chanderpaul & Sher Tareen (Harvard) in 2012

American College Cricket’s Founder & President Lloyd Jodah confirmed that the 2015 American College Cricket Ivy League Championship will be held in Schenectady, NY on Sept 27 Sunday.

The Ivy League Championship, which is played for the Colin Michael Jodah Trophy was won by University of Pennsylvania in 2013, and Harvard in 2014. It was no surprise Penn won the first Ivy League Championship in 2013.They had been a part of American College Cricket since 2010, 2 years before Harvard then Cornell & Princeton had restarted clubs. Historically too, back in the 1800s Penn had been at the epicenter of American cricket,in Philadelphia. However, the following year, Harvard was super motivated, and played as many home & away matches as they could in preparation, resulting in a victory over Penn in the 2014 Finals in NYC.

The Trophy is named in honor of Lloyd’s eldest brother, Colin Michael who was a huge part of American College Cricket (behind the scenes) until his death in Jan 2013.

This year the Ivies have less preparation time as the semester beg an later than usual due to a delayed Labor Day.Despite that, the competition will be more intense than ever due to their historical school rivalries. Additionally the clubs are seeing the impact that American College Cricket is making . Both Harvard & Yale now have Flicx pitches for their on-campus fields. In fact it was approved for the Ivy League Championship to be played at Harvard, but the Mid Atlantic Championship was already scheduled for that date.

Earlier in the summer Steve Weisse – President of Upstate New York Cricket Association based in Schenectady, NY, had discussed with Lloyd Jodah the possibility of ACC supporting UNYCA’s inaugural 2015 season by scheduling some American College Cricket matches in Schenectady , and ultimately Lloyd chose it as the site of the Ivy League Championship. The city boasts two dedicated cricket grounds, Grout Park Athletic Field and a rehabbed baseball field at Schenectady County Community College.

For UNYCA , this is a huge coup for their efforts toward growing the game in the upstate New York area. Having 4 Ivy League colleges come to town to compete is a tremendous opportunity,and should benefit the game tremendously. From an academic perspective ,establishing this connection could be inspirational for local public, and private school students, as well as other local colleges .

Cricket, the original American game, has a long history in the Ivy League. In 1842 Penn started a cricket team, followed by Harvard in 1888 though cricket was played on their campuses long before. There is an engraving showing a cricket game being played on the Dartmouth Quad in 1792.

The founding of American College Cricket in late 2008 has revived the game in universities all over the USA & Canada, and more than 60 colleges will this Fall play the Ivy League & Regional Championships all over the USA, leading to the National Championship in March in Florida, where 32 teams will gather from as far away as British Columbia.

Lloyd Jodah, Founder & President of American College Cricket, stated, “Steve Weisse and UNYCA have been doing great work for cricket in Schenectady, so when he asked for American College Cricket support I was happy to look at options. We’re looking forward to playing the ACC Ivy League Championship in Schenectady, on the new field at the Schenectady County Community College. We really appreciate the support of SCCC for the game in providing this field.”

UNYCA President Steve Weisse said , “This is a terrific opportunity to showcase cricket in upstate New York with such a high profile event as the American College Cricket Ivy League finals. ACC is an excellent organization that his helping to grow the game of cricket in the U.S., and we are privileged to have this event staged here. The game of cricket has huge untapped potential with the large number of cricket fans participating in and watching the game here in the U.S. Unfortunately, many Americans fail to realize that cricket was this country’s first bat and ball sport.UNYCA and ACC share the vision that cricket deserves to be in the mainstream of the American sports landscape, and this event will serve to further that goal.”

Here is the schedule of games:

Games 1&2:
10. AM Semi-final Grout Park Athletic Field 1821 Hamburg Street Schenectady, NY
10 AM Semi-final Schenectady County Community College 78 Washington Ave Schenectady, NY 12305

Game 3:
2:30 Ivy League Championship Finals – Schenectady County Community College 78 Washington Ave