SEASON RECAP: Young Crimson Among Best in Country

A season that started out with promise and tough expectations saw a team blossom into a true national power, full of potential for seasons to come.

The Harvard women’s squash team put together a highly successful campaign, finishing with a 10-2 record and a No. 2 ranking in the nation. Both losses came at the hands of No. 1 Princeton in close 5-4 meetings, including a highly-contested matchup for the national title.

The Crimson started out the season with a winning run, blanking its first three opponents, 9-0, and beating the next four by wide margins.

Harvard did not lose a single game in its opening match against Brown, shutting down all of the Bears in 3-0 contests. A sweep of Williams earned the Crimson a No. 4 ranking in its next matchup against No. 8 Dartmouth, who fell by the same 9-0 score.

Harvard then hit the road to face No. 7 Cornell and No. 6 Stanford. The Crimson beat them both, 8-1, proving worthy itself of its top-four ranking. Harvard’s first real tests came in the first week of February against three opponents that were seeded higher than the Crimson.

“We knew that we were strong going into that week, but we knew [Trinity, Penn, and Princeton] were going to be tough,” junior captain Johanna Snyder said. “It was [a] hybrid of confidence and viewing them as true competition that made us successful.”

The Crimson impressed in every way possible against No. 3 Trinity. Seven out of the nine matches went past three games, but Harvard’s young talent came out on top, 7-2.

Harvard rose to No. 3 in the country, and had a chance to prove itself once again against No. 2 Penn three days later. The Crimson rose one more spot in the rankings with another 7-2 victory. The final test of the week came the next day, when No. 2 Harvard traveled to New Jersey in a marquee matchup against the top program in the nation. The Crimson had momentum on its side, but Princeton stopped the team in its tracks. The Tigers won five out of the nine matches in an intense encounter that would be echoed again later in the national championship match.

No. 5 Yale gave Harvard another chance to pick up where it left off. The Crimson beat the Bulldogs, 6-3, in the final match of the season and solidified its No. 2 ranking going into the CSA National Team Championships.

The team breezed through its early matches with Stanford and Penn, setting up a highly-anticipated rematch with Princeton.

Going for its 13th national title, the Crimson sought to upset the Tigers in the championship match. Harvard was able to win in the No. 5 and No. 6 slots, but five hard-fought losses forced the Crimson to settle for second place. Harvard was able to gain two victories at the No. 4 and No. 7 slots to attenuate the loss, 5-4.

The Crimson capped off the season by sending junior Catherine O’Donnell, sophomore Alisha Mashruwala, and freshmen Emily Park and Nirasha Guruge to the CSA Individual Championships. Guruge was the most successful in the tournament, ranked at No. 7 and falling in the quaterfinals to the No. 2 seed. Snyder won the Holleran Cup—the “B” bracket of the CSA tournament.

Five All-Americans were selected from Harvard’s squad, and Guruge became the third Crimson player in the past four years to be named Ivy League Rookie of the Year, making this season one of the most memorable for women’s squash. With no seniors lost from this season, Harvard is poised to make a serious run at the national title next year.

“Next year we’re bringing in five new freshmen, and the team has three juniors that have two championship game appearances,” O’Donnell said. “We definitely have experience and its great preparation for the next year.”

—Staff writer Brian A. Campos can be reached at bcampos@fas.harvard.edu.