Women's college championships comes of age, drawing huge crowds to Harvard courts

Sunday, February 21, 1999: Princeton over Harvard 5-4. Showing that college squash in the USA is where the excitement is, over 1000 fans massed at the Harvard Barnaby Courts to watch Harvard and Princeton play out an exciting championship match. With spectators rocking the courts with cheers, chants, and general noise, the Harvard women were sufficiently energized to almost edge the equally strong Princeton Tigers.

Both teams lived up to their billing and the expectations of the fans, raising the match to a suspenseful level. The level of spectator noise created some understandable nervousness on the part of the players. This was replaced by intense concentration and effort by all of the contestants, as both teams realized the match was going to be very close.

With the match knotted at 3-3, and Princeton leading in the three remaining contests, it then looked for a moment that the Tigers would prevail for a second straight year. Although Julia Beaver predictably won easily at the #1 spot for Princeton, the momentum then slowly shifted back to Harvard. Harvard pulled ahead in the final two matches but Princeton's Megan Murphy bested Harvard's Virginia Brown in an exciting five game match, clinching the championship for Princeton as the teams split the last two matches. Princeton collected their second straight championship in a team match so evenly played that it was a fan's delight.

The Princeton win ended an exciting and energized weekend in Cambridge, MA today. Twenty-eight nine-woman US college teams gathered at Harvard university's facility, contesting for the championship in four divisions. In addition to the Princeton "A" win, it was Amherst defeating Bowdoin in a close finals of the B division, 5-4 and Vassar winning the C division over Conn College. St Lawrence claimed the D division round robin. [ read the Daily Princetonian article before the Howe cup here ] , [ go to the Howe cup draws and results online here ] [ detailed results here ]

additional college coverage

You may want to look at these other pages about the 98-99 college season:

[ Go back to Colleges main page and directory ]

[ Go to College photo gallery ]

[ Go to 98-99 college season notes ]

[ Go to US men's intercollegiates first page]