Harvard Hosts CSA National Championships

If you’ve ever wanted to see an unstoppable force descend on the Cambridge area, look no further. The College Squash Association’s national championship is right around the corner, and Harvard is right in the mix this weekend.

“I think the team is as prepared as we could be,” Crimson coach Mike Way said. “A couple of players have little twinges here and there, which is normal at this point in the season, but we’re ready to go, and certainly, we’ve got the right mindset.”

Vying for the Potter Cup, the highest esteem in all of college squash, No. 6 Harvard (7-5, 3-3 Ivy) is pitted against stern competition on its three-match march to the title.

The squad faces Ancient Eight rival No. 3 Princeton (10-2, 5-1 Ivy) in the first round, this afternoon at 2 p.m. in the Murr Center.

When the two teams last met three weeks ago, the Tigers dashed the Crimson’s hopes of an Ivy League title with a crushing 7-2 victory. This weekend, the tone of Harvard’s tournament opener is quite clear: retribution.

Since losing to Princeton in each of the top-five matchups, the Crimson has fallen to No. 1 Trinity and No. 2 Yale, managing to sneak out a few points against its top-ranked opposition.

The Tigers? They’ve cruised to an easy 8-1 victory over No. 4 Rochester (11-3) and suffered a 6-3 defeat at the hands of No. 1 Trinity (17-0, 1-0 NESCAC).

Still, the squad is optimistic despite its losses against top-ranked teams.

“We’ve really grown as a team and have come together, working hard over the last several months,” said freshman No. 7 Tommy Mullaney, the only squad member to have taken a point from all three of Harvard’s fiercest competitors. “I think everyone’s feeling really excited and enthusiastic about giving it all we’ve got this weekend, from Princeton to whomever comes next.”

As a little more fuel to the fire, if the Crimson were to edge the Tigers in the quarterfinals, it would likely face Ivy League champion and perennial rival No. 2 Yale (13-1, 7-0 Ivy) in a replay of its 7-2 loss just a fortnight ago. The Bulldogs managed to go unbeaten in the Ancient Eight this season, suffering their only loss against the unstoppable Bantams.

With the possibility of facing the three toughest teams in the tournament, the coaching staff is surprisingly calm.

“It’s funny,” said Way of his close competition, “they each finished ahead of us, and rightfully so. They’re definitely where they’re supposed to be. But, we played very well against them, and even though we lost to all of these teams, all of our best matches included them. We’ll just take it one match at a time.”

Undoubtedly, the talk of the tournament will be around No. 1 Trinity, which is looking to grab its 13th consecutive national championship, and is riding the longest winning streak in all of college sports history, currently at 241 games dating back to its first title win in 1998-1999.

For perspective, the last time the Bantams lost—which was to Harvard—SpongeBob still had a year before it would even pilot the airwaves, and the first “Now That’s What I Call Music!” CD in the United States was still a couple months in the future.

That being said, Trinity will be the definite favorite coming into this weekend and would only cross paths with the home team for the title. But, if the two were to meet, counting the Crimson out might not be the safest move. Harvard has claimed the Potter Cup 30 times since 1950, accounting for half of the tournament’s champions in the past 60 seasons of play.

“We’re the underdogs for sure,” Way said. “So mentally, that’s not a bad place to be sometimes. Look for us to come out fighting for it.”