PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – For the 16^th consecutive season, the Harvard women's squash program will compete in the semifinal round of the Howe Cup draw at the CSA National Championships. The Crimson used a 9-0 win over No. 7 Yale in the quarterfinal round this afternoon to advance into the final four where it will take on the No. 3 Princeton Tigers for a spot in the National Championship match on Sunday.
 

How it Happened

The Crimson began its chase fore the Howe Cup this morning with a quarterfinal matchup against the No. 7 Yale Bulldogs. Meeting for the second time this season, the Crimson and the Bulldogs squared off attempting to advance to the final four at the CSA Women's Team National Championships.
 
The Crimson started strong in the first wave thanks to the starting group of Lucie Stefanoni, Ocean Ma and Emma Carney. Playing at threes, Stefanoni flew to a 3-0 win while outscoring her opponent 33-16 in the match. Ocean Ma also won in straight games in her match at fives to put the Crimson up two matches early in the contest. Emma Carney bounced back from a first game defeat to win three consecutive games and take the win in her match at nines. Carney outlasted her opponent in the key third game, winning 17-15 on her way to the victory.
 
Playing at the top of the ladder, Saran Nghiem sprinted to a 3-0 win in her match. Nghiem outscored her opponent 33-8 to put Harvard one win away from the victory. Senior captain Brecon Welch clinched the match for her team with a 3-0 win at eights. Welch picked up her eighth career Howe Cup win with the triumph. Molly Stoltz sealed the second wave sweep for Harvard with a 3-1 win at sixes.
 
Harvard completed the sweep in the final wave of matches, beginning with Caroline Fouts' 3-1 win at twos. Habiba Eldafrawy remained unbeaten on the season with a 3-0 win at fours and Amira Singh posted a swift 3-0 win at sevens to complete the action in the quarterfinal round.  
 
 

Final Results

No. 2 Harvard – 9
No. 7 Yale – 0
1 - Saran Nghiem def. Heng Wai Wong (YALE), 3-0 (11-6, 11-1, 11-1)
2 - Caroline Fouts def. Christy Tin Yan Lau (YALE), 3-1 (11-6, 11-6, 10-12, 11-6)
3 - Lucie Stefanoni def. Spring Ma (YALE), 3-0 (11-5, 11-6, 11-5)
4 - Habiba Eldafrawy def. Meghna Sreedhar (YALE), 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-7)
5 - Ocean Ma def. Meha Shah (YALE), 3-0 (11-7, 11-4, 11-6)
6 - Molly Stoltz def. Whitney Taylor (YALE), 3-1 (1-9, 11-4, 9-11, 11-6)
7 - Amira Singh def. Rashi Goverdhanam (YALE), 3-0 (11-7, 11-8, 11-7)
8 - Brecon Welch def. Layla Johnson (YALE), 3-0 (11-5, 12-10, 11-6)
9 - Emma Carney def. Lindsay Westerfield (YALE), 3-1 (8-11, 11-7, 17-15, 11-8)
Order of Finsih: 3, 5, 9, 1, 8, 6, 2, 4, 7
 

Up Next

The Crimson will now move on to the semifinal round in the Howe Cup draw at the CSA Team National Championships. Harvard will face off against No. 3 Princeton in the semifinals tomorrow morning for a spot in the championship match on Sunday. The match between the Crimson and the Tigers is slated for 11:00 AM with the action set to stream live on YouTube.