PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The No. 3 Harvard men's squash team will compete for a National Championship tomorrow morning after upsetting the No. 2 Penn Quakers in the semifinal round of the CSA Team National Championships today. The Crimson posted a 5-3 win over the Quakers in the Potter Cup Semifinals, flipping the score from the Ivy League Tournament Championship two weeks ago. Harvard earned the right to compete for the Potter Cup tomorrow, in the National Championship match against No. 1 Trinity.
 

How it Happened

Harvard and Penn met on the courts in Philadelphia this morning in the semifinal round after playing two close matches earlier in the season. The Crimson battled the Quakers for a spot in the National Championship match in what was a record third meeting of the 2025-26 season all of which occurred in the past four weeks.
 
The Quakers made the first move in the match, taking two wins in the first wave of matches to build a 2-1 lead in the early going. David Costales put up a fight at second position, taking a game in his match but eventually falling, 1-3. Segev Rome suffered the same fate at eights, taking the first game in his bout before falling in three consecutive games to fall 1-3. Alexander Broadbridge gave Harvard its first point of the tilt, posting a swift 3-0 win at sixes.
 
Harvard began to turn things around in the second wave, earning two wins to tie the score at 3-3 heading into the final set of matches. Penn took the win at ones to earn its third point of the match. Ishant Shah posted a clutch 3-1 win at nines, rallying after a first game loss to win three straight games and outscoring his opponent 33-13 in the run. Christian Capella posted a thrilling 3-2 win at fours to tie up the match for Harvard. The Ivy League Rookie of the Year mounted a ferocious comeback after falling in the first two games, posting three straight wins – including two game victories by an 11-3 scoreline – to earn the comeback win.
 
Maddox Moxham and Omar Azzam clinched the match for Harvard in the final wave of matches, posting back-to-back 3-1 wins at fives and threes, respectively. Both Crimson student-athletes lost their first games before posting three consecutive game victories to take the points on their respective courts. The results helped Harvard knock off the Quakers and earn a spot in the National Championship match tomorrow afternoon.
 

Results

No. 3 Harvard – 5
No. 2 Penn – 3
1 - Omar Hafez (PENN) def. Denis Gilevskiy, 3-0 (11-6, 11-2, 11-7)
2 - Salman Khalil (PENN) def. David Costales, 3-1 (9-11, 11-7, 11-3, 11-7)
3 - Omar Azzam def. Marwan Abdelsalam (PENN), 3-1 (12-14, 11-7, 11-8, 11-2)
4 - Christian Capella def. Alexander Dartnell (PENN), 3-2 (6-11, 3-11, 11-3, 11-3, 11-8)
5 - Maddox Moxham def. Rustin Wiser (PENN), 3-1 (9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-4)
6 - Alexander Broadbridge def. Zane Patel (PENN), 3-0 (11-8, 13-11, 11-7)
7 - Jacob Lin vs. Varun Chitturi - DNP
8 - Rehan Luthra (PENN) def. Segev Rome, 3-1 (9-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-4)
9 - Ishant Shah def. Hao Cui (PENN), 3-1 (9-11, 11-5, 11-2, 11-6)
 

Up Next

The Crimson will compete against No. 1 Trinity in the title match of the Potter Cup Draw tomorrow morning at 10:30 AM. Harvard will face off against the bantams on the courts at the Specter Center in Philadelphia with all the action streaming live on YouTube.