The official blog of the
harvard men's and women's squash
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Men lose against St. Lawrence
Despite a good fight, our men’s team lost 2-7 against St. Lawrence today. Freshman Bradley Smith at #2 and senior co-captain Tyler Olson at #7 were the only ones to win their matches.
St. Lawrence got off to a great start by winning all three first round matches. Devin McLaughlin at #6 was up 2-1 but wasn’t able to close it and eventually lost the fifth 11-9. Dylan Murray at #3 and Sam Goldberg at #9 both lost in three.
Freshman Mandela Patrick at #8 played well in his first ever varsity match but lost in three close games. Meanwhile, Smith won his match and Olson’s victory right after set the match score to 2-4.
Matt Roberts at #5 looked strong in his match at 1-1 but despite a game ball, he lost the third in the tiebreaker and eventually the fourth 11-5. That gave St. Lawrence the fifth win of the match.
In the last two matches, St. Lawrence’s #1 and former national individual champion, Amr Khalifa, didn’t allow freshman Madhav Dhingra to get into the match and won in three. Bryan Koh at #4 only found his rhythm occasionally and fell against Ibrahim Khan in five.
It’s a tough loss but some of the matches were much closer than the scores suggest. The team is feeling fairly positive and looking forward to the match against Rochester tomorrow. The match starts at noon.
You’ll be able to follow the match scores on our Twitter page: https://twitter.com/
Full results:
http://modules.ussquash.com/
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
Both teams win against Dartmouth
The squash season has officially started: Our women beat Dartmouth 9-0 last night while the men’s team won their match 7-2. While some of you came down to see the matches live, we know that many of you were watching the online stream. Thank you for all the support!
The women didn’t drop any games despite playing without their #1 Amanda Sobhy and #2 Haley Mendez. The whole squad was ready for the challenge, including our two freshmen, Alyssa Mehta and Sue Ann Yong, who played their first official varsity matches and walked away with comfortable wins. The women will have tougher matches ahead in January but it was a good kickoff to the season.
The men’s team got off to a bit of a rusty start with #9 Peter Janulis and #8 Sachin Patel losing their matches. Dartmouth almost took a 3-0 lead as #6 Tyler Olson was down 9-5 in the fifth game. The senior co-captain fought his way back though and eventually took the fifth 11-9. Olson’s win shifted the match momentum and after #7 Sam Goldberg won his match in four, the rest of team didn’t drop any games. The match was definitely a wake-up call for the men who will face #2 St. Lawrence and #5 Rochester this coming weekend.
We’ll keep you updated on our progress this weekend. While we don’t know if there’s online streaming at either venue, you can follow the matches live on Twitter (https://twitter.com/harvardsquash).
Match recaps and results on GoCrimson.com:
No. 1 Women’s Squash Makes Quick Work of No. 11 Dartmouth, 9-0
http://gocrimson.com/sports/wsquash/2014-15/releases/20141202q9czs2
No. 1 Men’s Squash Defeats No. 11 Dartmouth, 7-2
http://gocrimson.com/sports/msquash/2014-15/releases/20141202z6zqtq
What else has been going on?
Amanda Sobhy ’15 didn’t play against Dartmouth because she is representing Team USA at the Women’s World Team Championship. USA secured their place in the quarterfinals yesterday with a 3-0 win over Canada.
http://www.ussquash.com/team-usa-beats-canada/
————-
GoCrimson.com published the season preview videos last week. Click on the links below to hear Head Coach Mike Way’s thoughts about the teams and the season:
Women’s preview
http://gocrimson.com/sports/wsquash/2014-15/videos/20141124-3pac75nm
Men’s preview
http://gocrimson.com/sports/msquash/2014-15/videos/20141124-xo094avb
Upcoming matches:
Dec 6
Men vs. St. Lawrence @ St. Lawrence – 12pm
Dec 7
Men vs. Rochester @ Rochester – 12pm
While the men’s team is on the road this coming weekend, the women’s team and the men’s JV team will not be traveling. They will play other teams at Harvard. If you’re in the area, here’s the match schedule:
Dec 6
JV Men vs. Brandeis – 12pm (scrimmage)
JV Men vs. Univ. of Toronto – 2pm (scrimmage)
Women vs. Brown – 4pm (scrimmage)
Dec 7
JV Men vs. Northeastern – 1pm (scrimmage)
Women vs. Wellesley – 1pm (scrimmage)
JV Men vs. Boston College – 2:30pm (scrimmage)
Women vs. Boston College – 2:30pm (official)
Monday, November 10, 2014
Ivy Scrimmages
The Ivies kicked off their seasons this weekend at the annual Ivy Scrimmages at Yale. While the results of the tournament don’t count towards the official rankings, it’s a great way to start the season and see how we match up against other teams.
Both of our teams were suffering from minor injuries so the coaches decided to rest the injured players. Our women played without Amanda Sobhy ’15, Haley Mendez ’15 and Dileas MacGowan ’17 while the men were resting David Ryan ’18 and Seif Abou Eleinen ’18.
Despite the injuries, both of our teams played very well. The women lost against Princeton in the semis 4-5 but beat Yale in the 3/4 playoff 7-2. UPenn ended up beating Princeton in the final 5-4. Naturally, the women are quite happy with the weekend as they were able to compete against the top teams even without 3 of their Top 9 players. Our men beat Brown and UPenn on the way to the final but weren’t able to win against Yale. The Bulldogs won the final 6-3.
There were some great individual performances and the coaches were particularly impressed by the maturity our freshmen showed in their matches. There’s a lot of work to be done before the big matches in the winter but it’s still early in the season. The coming weeks will be filled with practices and challenge matches before Dartmouth (Dec 2), St. Lawrence (Dec 6) and Rochester (Dec 7).
Ivy Scrimmage Results:
Women
Quarter-final
Harvard – Brown 9-0
Semi-final
Harvard – Princeton 4-5
3/4 playoff
Harvard – Yale 7-2
Men
Quarter-final
Harvard – Brown 9-0
Semi-final
Harvard – UPenn 6-3
Final
Harvard – Yale 3-6
Monday, November 3, 2014
Fall update
The summer has passed and our student-athletes have been back on campus for a couple of months now. The official practices started last week and we’re all looking forward to the new season.
Harvard Squash Class of 2018
We’re very excited to welcome our new freshmen to Harvard. The Class of ’18 will add a lot of talent and diversity to our already strong teams. Our women’s team didn’t lose anyone in the Top 9 last year and we have two strong additions this year: Alyssa Mehta from Canada and Sue Ann Yong from Malaysia.
On the men’s side, the team looks to be a lot deeper this season. Our four freshmen will furthermore add an international flair to the squad: Bradley Smith comes to Harvard from England, David Ryan from Ireland, Madhav Dhingra from India and Seif Abou Eleinen from Egypt.
For more information about our freshmen and upperclassmen, please visit GoCrimson.com through the links below:
Women’s 2014 / 15 roster:
http://www.gocrimson.com/
Men’s 2014 / 15 roster:
http://www.gocrimson.com/
Teams fundraising for the Cayman trip
Both of our teams are travelling to the Cayman Islands in January for their international trip. The trip will take place in the middle of our season so despite the occasional visit to the beach, it will be an intense training week. We will be hosted by Mark Chaloner, who is the Head Pro in Cayman and a former Top 10 professional from England.
In order to raise funds for the trip, our teams are offering squash clinics for both undergraduate and graduate students on campus during the fall season. If any of the local alumni are interested in attending a clinic, please contact the coaches.
During the planning stages of the international trip, one of the options was to travel to England (Oxford and Cambridge) but that won’t happen this season. However, Oxford’s squash team will actually be coming to the US in January and will play an exhibition against Harvard. The match is scheduled for January 6th at 5pm at the Murr Center.
A push for transparency in College Squash
Harvard will be the first team in the history of college squash to publish all of their challenge match results online this season. Through this, we want to add transparency to the formation of team ladders and to college squash as a whole. While this is being done on a voluntary basis, the CSA and a lot of coaches have been supportive and we’re hoping that many teams will follow. You will be able to see our challenge results through the link below:
https://docs.google.com/
What else has been going on?
New team captains were chosen by both of our squads in the spring: Haley Mendez ’15 continues as the women’s co-captain together with newly elected Megan Murray ’15. The men’s team will be lead by two seniors captains, Tyler Olson ’15 and Sachin Patel ’15.
———-
Friends Co-Chair, Hope Prockop ’90, reached the W45+ quarter-finals at the World Masters in Hong Kong in July. Hope had a tough draw and had to face former world No. 1, Sarah Fitz-Gerald, in the quarters. In the end, Fitz-Gerald proved to be stronger in three close games and went on to win the World title. Congratulations to Hope for making the Top 8!
———-
Amanda Sobhy ’15 reached her highest career ranking in September after reaching the semi-finals of two WSA World series tournaments back to back in Malaysia and in Hong Kong. Amanda was featured in the New York Times earlier this month.
———-
Cass R. Sunstein ‘75 wrote a great article in the Bloomberg View about his recent experience with professional squash and what differentiates professional athletes from everyone else. You can read the article here:
http://www.bloombergview.com/
———-
Squash Magazine has listed the Top 50 most intriguing, interesting and influential people in US squash. Four Harvard Squash members made the list. You can read more about Amanda Sobhy ’15, Tim Wyant ‘00, Ivy Pochoda ’98 and Jay Nelson ’62 in the October issue of Squash Magazine.
Upcoming matches:
Nov 8-9
Ivy Scrimmages @ Yale
Dec 2
Men and Women vs. Dartmouth @ Harvard
Dec 6 *
Men vs. St. Lawrence @ St. Lawrence
Dec 7 *
Men vs. Rochester @ Rochester
* During the Dec 6-7 weekend, the women’s team and the men’s JV team will not be travelling and will play local teams at Harvard. For the full schedule, see http://www.gocrimson.com
Follow us:
To stay updated with Harvard Squash, please follow us on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/
https://twitter.com/
@harvardsquash
Friday, July 25, 2014
NYC Alumni hit-around
The annual Harvard Squash hit-around will be at the Harvard Club (NYC) on Thursday, August 7th at 7pm. The plan is to play squash until 8:30pm and then grab drinks after (either at the H-Club or down the street – TBD). Please pass the info on to anyone who might be interested in attending. Alumni and current players are welcome.
Please RSVP to Richard Chin (richard@hcny.com) and Tim Wyant (tim.wyant@nationalurbansquash.org) to let them know if you plan to come, and if you plan to play squash (7pm or 7:45pm) or just meet up for drinks after.
Event Committee:
Dave Barry
Brooke Herlihy Cooper
Richard Chin
Diana & Joe Dowling
Audrey Duboc Chastain-Chapman
Reed Endresen
Asher Hochberg
Blair Metrailler
Jason Michas
Jay Nelson
Charlene Neo
Ned Reeves
Oliver Weisberg
Tim Wyant
Saturday, June 7, 2014
Harvard Squash Class of 2014
While the squash season ended a few months ago, it wasn’t until last weekend that our graduating seniors left the campus. It was a busy commencement week with families and relatives celebrating the accomplishments of the graduating class.
We want to congratulate the Harvard Squash Class of 2014:
– Natasha Anzik
– Georgie Brinkley
– Ali Farag
– Nigel Koh
– Nikhil Mehra
– Brandon McLaughlin
– Tommy Mullaney
– Asfy Nadeem
– Gary Power
We also want to recognize former team members, Peter Machtiger and Jay Brooks, who graduated from Harvard’s ROTC program and will join the U.S. Marine Corps after Harvard.
We wish the best of luck to these young women and men as they move on to new ventures.
Farag voted Top Male Athlete
National Champion, Ali Farag, added another significant feather in his cap during his last week at Harvard: Ali received the prestigious William J. Bingham Award during the Senior Letterwinners’ Dinner.
The award is given “to that male member of the graduating class of Harvard College who, through integrity, courage, leadership and ability on the athletic fields, has best served the high purpose of Harvard as exemplified by the late William J. Bingham ’16, former Director of Athletics”.
Ali is the 7th squash player to receive the award, which has been given out annually since 1954. Previous winners are Anil Nayar ’69, Richard M. Cashin, Jr. ’75, Michael Desaulniers ’80, Kenton L. Jernigan ’86, Jeremy D. Fraiberg ’92 and Adrian Ezra ’94.
Sobhy wins in Hong Kong – ranked #13 in the world
After finishing her junior year at Harvard, Amanda Sobhy travelled to Hong Kong to play in a Silver WSA tournament. She was seeded 2nd but went on to win the tournament without dropping a game. In the final, she beat Australia’s Rachael Grinham, a former world champion and world number one.
The win helped Amanda reach her highest WSA ranking ever: She is now ranked 13th in the world – not bad for a college senior!
Other News and Videos on GoCrimson.com:
Senior Perspective: Women’s Squash
http://www.gocrimson.com/
Senior Perspective: Men’s Squash
http://www.gocrimson.com/
Mike Way talks about the men’s season:
http://www.gocrimson.com/
Sam Sokolsky-Tifft elected to Phi Beta Kappa
http://www.gocrimson.com/
Asfy Nadeem earns Hoopes Prize
http://www.gocrimson.com/
We will be in touch closer to the fall with a preview of next season and our incoming freshman class.
We hope that your summer is off to a great start!
Monday, March 10, 2014
Amanda Wins in Toronto
Just a few days after winning her third consecutive Ramsay Cup, Amanda was off to Toronto for the Granite Open. She made it past the second-seeded Rachael Grinham in the semifinals to face the world number thirteen, Omneya Abdel Kawy, in the finals. She was able to beat the Egyptian 11-5, 11-5, 11-9 in just 36 minutes. This WSA Silver 25 event is the biggest WSA tour title of Amanda’s career.
She has now lost only one WSA tour final in 12 appearances!
http://dailysquashreport.com/3_9_14_wsa.htm
Seven of Harvard’s current and former players competed at US Nationals this past weekend with three of them making the finals.
In the SL Green Women’s Open:
Cece Cortes ’12 (Quarterfinalist)
Amanda Sobhy ’15 (Finalist)
In the US Masters:
Jay Nelson ’62 (Finalist in M70+)
Anil Nayar ’69 (Quarterfinalist in M65+)
Bill Kaplan ’77 (Quarterfinalist in M55+)
Hope Prockop ’90 (Finalist in W35/40+)
Tim Wyant ’00 (semifinalist in M35+)
Great to see Crimson squashers still going strong!
Monday, March 10, 2014
Amanda Sobhy and Ali Farag win 2014 National Individual Championships!
Ben Heckscher ’57, two-time winner of the Pool Trophy (’56,’57), with Ali and Amanda, the 2014 Individual Champs
Both of Harvard’s #1 players won the Men’s and Women’s National Individual Championships yesterday at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
Amanda Sobhy defeated Kanzy El Defrawy in three games. Kanzy is Trinity’s hard-hitting #1 player who was once ranked World #27 in WISPA and World #5 U19. In both the first and second games, Kanzy took early leads but Amanda pulled away to win 11-6 and 11-5. The milage that Amanda put into Kanzy’s legs was evident in the third as Amanda charged to an 11-3 finish. She is the first woman from Harvard to win the Ramsey Cup three consecutive times! Despite the one sided scoreline, the Individual National Championship never comes easy. Amanda did a phenomenal job of staying focused throughout the weekend and performed well under pressure in the final.
Ali was next on court. He was plagued by errors in the first game and lost 11-6. In the second, he fell behind 6-2 before storming back to 9-9. It was a critical moment in the match where the tide could turn either way. Ali pressed on to take the second game 13-11. He made incredible gets to hang in and take the third 11-5. He rolled with the momentum to finish it off the fourth by a score of 11-4.
Recaps:
Amanda
http://gocrimson.com/sports/wsquash/2013-14/releases/20140302j8y1gs
Ali
http://gocrimson.com/sports/msquash/2013-14/releases/20140302x9uo14
Correction from Sunday’s blast: Brandon McLaughlin made it two the round of 16 where he was knocked off by Princeton’s #1, Sam Kang. He then went on to defeat Dylan Ward of Princeton and Karan Malik of Trinity to finish in the top 10. Haley Mendez defeated Princeton’s Libby Eyre in the round of 16 before losing to Amanda Sobhy in the quarterfinals. For two players at #2 on their respective ladders to finish in the top 10 in the nation while fighting through illness is unbelievable!
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Harvard Athletics Wednesday, February 19, 2014
MEN’S TEAM – NATIONAL CHAMPIONS 2014
Our men’s team put on their best performance of the season and beat Trinity College in the final 9-0. Harvard stayed unbeaten throughout the season and won the National Championship without dropping a single match this past weekend.
The first round of play today was very close. Bryan Koh at #6 went down 0-2 but was able to fight back and win in five. Tyler Olsen at #9 had a close five-setter too but proved to be the stronger player in the fifth. Dylan Murray at #3 was able to win in three games.
These wins gave the team a lot of momentum. Nigel Koh at #5 won quickly in three and it was up to co-captain Brandon McLaughlin at #2 to take the deciding fifth win for the team. Brandon’s match was extremely close until the very end but he was able to clinch it in the tie-break of the fifth game.
Ali Farag, who received the legendary Skillman Award before the final, won in three games at #1. Tommy Mullaney at #8 and Nick Hopcroft at #7 also won 3-0 while co-captain Gary Power took four games to beat his opponent.
It’s the men’s team’s first national title since 1998. The team and the coaches couldn’t be happier. The players peaked at just the right time and performed very well today and through the season.
You can read more about the final on the CSA website:
http://collegesquashassociation.com/
The coaches are now looking forward to this weekend when the women compete at their National Championships in Princeton. Stay tuned.
Go Crimson!