Trinity and Princeton take CSA honors
Acton, MA, Feb 25th 2009 -- The College Squash Association (CSA)
season moves towards its conclusion this upcoming weekend in the
United States with Trinity College (Hartford, CT) squarely in
the limelight. Trinity’s Baset Chaudhry (PAK) will be the first
seed in the men’s individual championships, ahead of second seed
Mauricio Sanchez (MEX) of Princeton. On the women’s side, the
first seed will be Trinity’s Nour Baghat (EGY) with
Pennsylvania’s Kristen Lange (USA) the second seed and Yale’s
Logan Greer (USA) the third seed. The individual events are
being held concurrently at Williams College in Northwestern,
Massachusetts, with play beginning at 8AM Friday morning (Feb
27th) and concluding on Sunday in early afternoon.
In the just concluded men’s team championships last weekend at
Princeton, NJ, the Trinity College “Bantams” men’s team just
barely collected the crown by a razor-thin five match to four
margin over the second-seeded Princeton “Tigers”. This win marks
yet another milestone for the celebrated Trinity men’s program,
which has now won a record-setting eleventh national team title
in a row and 202 collegiate matches in a row.
Trinity’s 202 match streak is the longest ever in US Collegiate
history IN ANY SPORT, and has attracted a wide range of media
attention this season, including coverage on ESPN and CNN on
Sunday (the date of the national finals), as well as coverage
over the past few months in the Hartford Courant, New York
Times, Sports Illustrated online, and National Public Radio.
But this time around Trinity, under coach Paul Assaiante, was
facing defeat squarely in the face, as the players had to come
from behind in several of the key winning matches. With the nine
matches being played in groups of three, in reverse order, the
match came down finally to contests at the number four and
number one positions, with the score four matches to three in
Princeton’s favor. When Trinity’s Parth Sharma came from a 0-2
game deficit to defeat Princeton’s David Letourneau by scores of
6-9 2-9 9-7 9-0 9-7, the finals stood knotted at four matches
apiece.
Then Princeton senior Mauricio Sanchez, at the number one
position, in the last match on court, built a 5 points to 0 lead
in the fifth and concluding game against Trinity’s Baset
Chaudhry, but the Princeton Tiger couldn’t hold the lead and
fell 9-5 in that final game, giving Trinity its eleventh CSA US
national championship.
In the third place playoff, the University of Rochester, under
coach Martin Heath, solidified by far its best CSA season ever,
with a convincing 7-2 win over Harvard to rise from #10 last
season to a school record #3 this season.
The previous weekend, the Princeton University Tiger women
collected their third successive national title, besting the
Harvard Crimson by a close 5-4 margin. Princeton defeated a
rapidly improving Trinity team in the semi finals, also by a 5-4
margin. In the finals, the clinching match was scored by
Princeton’s Amanda Siebert (USA) at the number one position in a
come from behind victory over Harvard’s Nirasha Guruge (IND).
For the Princeton women’s program, it was their 17th overall
title, in a run that was accomplished over three decades.
The CSA team championships this year have been a showcase of the
continued growth curve of collegiate squash over the past five
seasons, with eight new teams this year alone having been
organized at different colleges and universities across the USA,
including at such prominent institutions as Purdue, Illinois,
Notre Dame and Boston University. 56 teams and 520 athletes
participated in the men’s team event and 37 teams and 345
athletes in the women’s event.
The upcoming individual championships have two divisions of play
each on the men’s and women’s sides, with draws of 32 players in
the championship divisions and of 64 in the second division.
Draws will be announced on Thursday afternoon.
RESULTS, CSA National Team Championships:
HOWE CUP National Women’s Championships,
at Harvard University, Cambridge MA USA
FINALS: Princeton 5 – Harvard 4
1. Amanda Siebert (P) def Nirasha Guruge (H) 9-5 0-9 2-9 9-5
9-1
2. Neha Kumar (P) def June Tiong (H) 9-6 9-1 9-4
3. Emery Maine (P) def Emily Park (H) 9-1 9-3 10-8
4. Alisha Mashruwala (H) def Kaitlin Sennatt (P) 7-9 9-3 9-1 9-0
5. Katherine O’Donnell (H) def Jackie Moss (P) 9-5 0-9 6-9 9-5
9-0
6. Bethan Williams (H) def Mary O’Toole (P) 7-9 9-6 9-3 9-5
7. Johanna Snyder (H) def Aly Brady (P) 9-5 9-3 9-3
8. Nikki Sequeira (P) def Cece Cortes (H) 3-9 2-9 9-7 9-0 9-3
9. Katherine Giovinazzo (P) def Ali Zindman (H) 9-6 9-6 7-9 10-8
POTTER CUP National Men’s Championships,
at Princeton University and Lawrenceville School, NJ USA
FINALS: Trinity 5 - Princeton 4
1. Baset Chaudhry (T) def Mauricio Sanchez (P) 8-10 9-3 9-5
2-9 9-5
2. Gustav Detter (T) def Kimlee Wong (P) 5-9 5-9 9-6 9-1 9-3
3. Manek Mathur (T) def Chris Callis (P) 9-10 10-8 0-9 9-1 9-2
4. Parth Sharma (T) def David Letourneau (P) 6-9 2-9 9-7 9-0 9-7
5. David Canner (P) def Randy Lim (T) 2-9 10-8 9-5 9-1
6. Hesham El Halaby (P) def Supreet Singh (T) 9-5 9-10 9-4 4-9
9-4
7. Kelly Shannon (P) def Andres Vargas (T) 8-10 7-9 9-4 9-3 9-2
8. Vikram Malhotra (T) def Santiago Imberton (P) 9-3 10-8 9-4
9. Peter Sopher (P) def Rushabh Vora (T) 8-10 9-2 10-8 9-4
