SEASON RECAP: Crimson Runs Table, Sweeps Titles

Talk about a season for the record books.

Winning numerous matches, titles, and awards, the Harvard women’s squash team epitomized success. The squad captured a spotless 12-0 record and finished the season ranked first nationally—no small feat.

Ranked No. 2 in the preseason, the team started off with several scrimmages against Ivy League opponents. Afterward, the Crimson kicked its season off by blanking its first four opponents.

Brown, Williams, and Dartmouth each fell, 9-0, to Harvard on their respective courts. Even more impressive, the Crimson lost only two games in the four-match stretch.

In Providence, R.I., the Crimson defeated No. 10 Brown to open its 2009-10 campaign. The squad next swept No. 8 Williams to improve to 2-0 on the young season.

The win total increased again after Harvard defeated No. 9 Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H.

Then, in the Crimson’s first home match of the season, the team soundly defeated No. 6 Cornell, 9-0, on Dec. 5. In doing so, the group climbed the national rankings to the No. 1 position.

“The Ivy scrimmages and the first match in November [against Brown] were a big test for us,” co-captain Katherine O’Donnell said. “[Co-captain] Johanna [Snyder] and I and some of the other girls were injured, but we still won. Everyone showed what they could do.”

Following this string of dominant wins, the team was faced with its toughest competition yet: Trinity. Known for its historically strong squash program, the Bantams also listed Nour Bahgat—the holder of the CSA Individual National Championship title for the 2008-09 season—on its roster. Even more unsettling, though, was the fact that Bahgat was playing not in the top slot anymore, but at No. 3.

“We knew they’d be one of the best teams,” Snyder said.

But Trinity too was no match for Harvard. The Crimson prevailed, 7-2.

Following the match against the Bantams, Harvard traveled back to Cambridge for a three-game home stretch where even tougher competition awaited.

Less than 24 hours after facing Trinity, the Crimson took on Stanford at the Barnaby Courts. Seven Harvard players swept their opponents to give the team a satisfying 8-1 victory.

Then came the month of February—the most important block in the team’s schedule.

After an 8-1 win against No. 3 Penn, the Crimson faced its most anticipated contest of the year: the matchup with No. 4 Princeton.

In the 2008-09 season, the Tigers defeated Harvard twice by a margin of only one game in each match. Even more heartbreaking, the second matchup between the Ancient Eight rivals was in the finals of the national championship. At the season’s end, every member of the Crimson team had yet to see victory against Princeton.

A win this year, then, represented more than merely preserving an unblemished record—it was about finally capturing what had eluded every Crimson athlete on the team.

With a 6-3 win, the athletes cleared this final looming hurdle. They also clinched a share of the Ivy League title.

“It was a huge win,” freshman Natasha Kingshott said. “Nobody on the team had beaten them before...It was kind of revenge, almost.”

In the last match of the season, the Crimson beat No. 5 Yale, 7-2, in New Haven, Conn. As a result, the group was awarded the Ivy League title as well as the Barhite Award, given to the team with the best dual record nationally.

Then came the CSA National Championships from Feb. 26-28. Harvard defeated Williams, Yale, and Penn to accomplish the team’s biggest goal—winning a national title. In the individual championships a week later, freshman Laura Gemmell claimed victory in the A division and her teammate O’Donnell won in the B division.

Even though the team’s future is not entirely certain—new players as well as a new coach will be entering the mix—the group is focused and ready defend its national title.

—Staff writer Molly E. Kelly can be reached at mkelly@college.harvard.edu.