M. Squash Nearly Snaps Trinity's Streak

The Harvard men’s squash team will forever look back at the 2003-2004 season and remember how close it came to doing what nobody in collegiate squash has done in six years.

In the CSA Team Championship’s final round, the Crimson (9-2, 6-0 Ivy) came within one game of ending Trinity’s 108-match win streak and claiming the national championship.

But while Harvard fell short against the Bantams, the squad put together its strongest season since 1998.

“You have to be proud of what we accomplished,” Crimson co-captain Ziggy Whitman said after the heartbreaking loss to Trinity.

Led by sophomore Will Broadbent—who finished the year as the No. 2 player in the country—Harvard dominated the Ivy season, claiming the league crown with a convincing 7-2 victory over Yale in the championship.

That win was especially sweet for Whitman and co-captain James Bullock, who had been part of the Crimson’s last title season in 2001, but were unable to repeat the feat the last two years.

“The Ivy league is the nation’s strongest squash league by far, so to win it is huge,” Whitman said. “And we crushed them. We didn’t just eke it out. We went to their house [and] crushed them.”

Whitman and Bullock provided the veteran leadership for the predominately younger squad. Although battling injuries through much of the season, Whitman and Bullock both turned in huge wins at the Ivy Championships.

It was Broadbent, however, who emerged as one of the preeminent players in college squash. After being ranked as the No. 5 player for much of the year, Broadbent beat then-No. 2 Julian Illingworth of Yale and No. 3 Bernardo Samper of Trinity in back-to-back matches in the team championships. He then advanced to the finals of the CSA Individual Championships before falling to No. 1 Yasser El-Halaby.

“If he’s not the guy to beat,” said Whitman of Broadbent, “he’s certainly the guy that absolutely everyone in the country should be scared of.”

The team also got a huge boost from a freshman class that far exceeded expectations and provided the roster depth that brought the Crimson to the verge of making history. Freshmen Siddharth Suchde and Ilan Oren served as the No. 2 and 3 rungs on Harvard’s ladder all year long, providing quality and clutch play.

Both freshmen won their matches in the championship finals against Trinity and another freshman, Garnett Booth, was just three points away from winning his match before a series of questionable officiating calls switched the momentum to the Bantams’ Jaques Swanepoel.

Freshmen Jason De Lierre and Mihir Sheth also made an impact throughout the year.

“We have a very young team,” said Suchde, who became the first player in Harvard history to win the prestigious junior Scottish Open. “The freshmen all really contributed this year, and that’s satisfying.”

The class of 2007, along with the return of Broadbent, has the team thinking that next year may be the year for Trinity’s streak to come to an end.

“I’m really anxious for next year now,” Broadbent said after he lost to El-Halaby in the Individual Championships, “because I’ve really seen this team gel over the last four or five months, and I don’t think anyone will stop us next year.”

For this year’s senior class, that claim may be one year too late, the Harvard men’s squash team could make 2005 very exciting.

—Staff writer David H. Stearns can be reached at stearns@fas.harvard.edu.