HARTFORD, Conn. – The No. 3 Harvard men's squash team gave No. 1 Trinity all it could handle in the 2018 Collegiate Squash Association's national championship, but ultimately the Crimson (13-2) fell to the Bantams (20-0), 6-3, in the Potter Cup final.
Sophomore Timothy Brownell, senior David Ryan, and freshman Adam Corcoran won their matches for Harvard. Brownell avenged his five-game, regular-season loss to Thoboki Mohohlo at No. 2 with a sweep. Brownell's sweep of the South African give the Crimson life after dropping the first four matches. Later, when the match had been decided, Ryan completed his quest for the individual perfect season. The captain defeated Rick Penders at No. 4 to conclude his senior year 15-0. Corcoran's match was the last of the day. Fittingly, the bout see-sawed five games with the Crimson rookie from Winchester, U.K. ultimately taking the point, 11-9, in the final frame.
As in the regular-season meeting between Harvard and Trinity, matchups at five spots last five games today. Contests at No. 4, No. 6, No. 7, No. 8, and No. 9 each went the distance. This time around Harvard earned two points in the marathon matches.
Two, five-game matches and five two-point games in the first wave set the tone for the afternoon. Raucous crowds greeted senior Bradley Smith at No. 9, senior Madhav Dhingra at No. 6, and sophomore Sean Hughes at No. 3. Dhingra faced a five-point deficit in his opening game and came back to win, 11-9. The captain would drop the next two games, before showing that same resiliency to take an extra-point win in the fourth, 12-10. However, Trinity's Ziad Sakr pulled away for an 11-7 win in the fifth to put the Bantam's on the board first, 1-0. Smith captured the first games against James Evans at No. 9, but Evans rallied to take the final three sets for a two-point Trinity lead, 2-0. Hughes fell at No. 3 to Michael Craig, winning one and falling in another two-point game.
Harvard continued fighting in the second wave. Freshman Samuel Scherl remained composed in his first national championship match. However, Scherl's opponent Tom De Mulder took the point in three games at No. 5 to put Trinity up, 4-0. When Harvard needed a point, Brownell delivered a sweep of his own to get the Crimson on the board, 4-1. With the momentum feeling like it would tilt in Harvard's favor, freshman Julien Gosset fell in a five-game battle with Andrew Lee at No. 8. The point marked the championship-clincher for the Bantams.
The Crimson ended the day on a positive note. Ryan opened the final wave with his 15th victory of the season to give Crimson a second point, 5-2. Sophomore Saadeldin Abouaish was swept by Kush Kumar at No. 1. Corcoran then outlasted Allaudin in five games at No. 7 to bring the final score to 6-3.
Results
No. 1 – Kush Kumar def. Saadeldin Abouaish (H), 11-7, 11-4, 11-4
No. 2 – Timothy Brownell (H) def. Thoboki Mohohlo, 11-7, 11-8, 11-4
No. 3 – Michael Craig def. Sean Hughes (H), 11-3, 10-12, 11-8, 15-13
No. 4 – David Ryan (H) def. Rick Penders, 11-8, 8-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-3
No. 5 – Tom De Mulder def. Samuel Scherl (H), 11-8, 11-8, 11-7
No. 6 – Ziad Sakr def. Madhav Dhingra (H), 9-11, 11-5, 11-7, 10-12, 11-7
No. 7 – Adam Corcoran (H) def. Omar Allaudin, 11-3, 8-11, 11-2, 10-12, 11-9
No. 8 – Andrew Lee def. Julien Gosset (H), 11-6, 6-11, 12-10, 9-11, 11-4
No. 9 – James Evans def. Bradley Smith (H), 5-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-5
Order of Finish: 6, 9, 3, 5, 2, 8*, 4, 1, 7
*Match-clinching point
