In midseason, the Harvard men’s squash team was ranked second in the country, behind Trinity; the Crimson women, last year’s national champions, were ranked first. Late-season contests seemed to validate the women’s ranking, while suggesting that the men had been underrated.
Consider the historic clash at Hartford, Connecticut, home of Trinity College. Until Tuesday, February 4, the Trinity men’s team was riding a 162-game winning streak on their home courts: an unearthly 19 years without a loss in their house. Then, the undefeated Harvard men arrived and administered a 7-2 thrashing to the Bantams, resetting their home-win streak to zero. The same night, the unbeaten Crimson women came to town and pulled out a 5-4 win over Trinity, with the invincible Amanda Sobhy ’15, the nation’s top woman player, winning the deciding match over Kanzy El Defrawy, 11-4, 12-10, 11-4.
Two winters ago, Yale finally broke Trinity’s unparalleled 252-match winning streak (home and away) with a victory over the Bantams in New Haven. Until this February’s win, Harvard had not beaten the Trinity men since 1998. They did it by sweeping the top five (of nine) matches as well as the bottom two. Harvard’s top player, Ali Farag ’14, continued his undefeated season by trouncing Miled Zaraza of Trinity, 11-8, 11-3, 11-5. (Farag and Sobhy were profiled in “Squash, Egyptian Style” in Harvard Magazine in 2013.)
The Crimson teams were not yet out of the woods; both had to face strong Yale squads on February 7. They proved up to the challenge. The men dominated the Bulldogs in New Haven, 6-3, securing five of their six wins in straight games, while the women overwhelmed Yale, 7-2. Two days later, both squads demolished Brown, 9-0, to complete perfect 12-0, Ivy championship seasons.
Both teams have one more goal: national titles. The College Squash Association (CSA) men’s annual tournament will take place at Harvard’s Murr Center from February 14 through February 16, with the national team championship at stake and the same protagonists entering the fray. One week later, at Princeton’s Jadwin Squash Courts, the CSA Women’s Championship will decide the women’s title from February 21 to 23. The CSA’s national individual championship tourney completes the college season; it begins February 28 and ends March 2, at the University of Pennsylvania. In a video with footage of athletes from both squads in action, head squash coach Mike Way reflects on the triumphant season and the remaining challenges.
