After two losses to Harvard earlier in the season, the women's squash team upset the top-seeded Crim-son, 5-4, yesterday to win its second consecutive Howe Cup and the national championship that goes along with it.

Princeton and Harvard (11-1 overall, 7-1 Ivy League) had been jockeying for the top ranking in the nation all season, but Princeton's senior No. 9 Megan Murphy decisively ended the race. Her game-winning shot that ended the five-game marathon against Virginia Brown provided the second-seeded Tigers (13-1, 7-1) with the necessary five matches to upset the Crimson, 5-4, in the finals.

Princeton advanced to the finals with a 7-2 victory over third-seeded Penn (9-3, 5-4) in the semifinals Saturday after topping Brown (10-8, 2-7), 9-0, in the first round Friday.

In the last meeting between the Tigers and Harvard, the Crimson was on the winning side of the 5-4 margin and spoiled the Tigers' chances of repeating as Ivy champs.

Murphy won her match, 3-0, in the earlier contest, but she was playing at the No. 10 spot - which is a junior varsity match - so her victory did not affect the overall score. Murphy's solid match-play coupled with victories in intrasquad competition moved her up to the No. 9 spot during the intervening week. She replaced senior captain Sarah Wim-mer, who lost her match in the dual meet against the Crimson, 3-0.

First string

At the Howe Cup, Murphy showed that she belonged in the varsity lineup. She lost her first game, 9-4, but battled back to win the second one, 10-8, to prevent herself from falling one game from defeat. Murphy then took command in the third game, claiming it by a convincing score, 9-3. A game from elimination herself, Brown tied up the match by dominating the fourth game to a 9-4 win.

Knowing that this final game could determine whether her team repeated as national champions or had a long ride back to campus without defeating the Crimson the entire season, Murphy ignored the pressure and pulled out a 9-6 victory.

Murphy's play at the Howe Cup clinched the championship, but it was senior No. 8 Avery Coleman's five-game victory (9-4, 9-4, 7-9, 7-9, 9-5) that offered the first sign that the outcome could be different from the losing regular season effort. In the Feb. 14 match, Princeton started the odd matches down, 3-1, in the overall score. The Tigers could only lose one match in the next five if they were to win.

Yesterday Princeton repeated the early results of the regular-season match. The Tigers won at the No. 4 spot - sophomore Meredeth Quick again defeated Carlin Wing in straight games (9-6, 9-5, 9-5) - but lost the matches at No. 2 and No. 6. Coleman had the only change - her 3-2 victory instead of her dual-match 3-0 loss made the overall score even at the beginning of the odd-matches.

Princeton sophomore No. 1 Julia Beaver and junior No. 3 Blair Irwin both improved upon their victories last week by winning their Howe Cup matches in straight games, whereas they each lost a game in their regular season contests. Junior No. 5 Liz Kelly, who was almost the Tiger hero of the Feb. 14 contest when she tied up the match score with a five-game victory, lost her rematch with Lindsay Wilber (9-4, 9-6, 9-4).

Kelly's defeat meant the outcome of the overall match depended on the last two matches to finish, just like it was last week. Murphy's fifth-game heroics, however, ensured that the Howe Cup Championship would not end like the regular-season contest but instead like the tournament did last year - with Princeton wearing the national crown.

Each of the contests between Princeton and Harvard this season determined which of the undisputably best two teams in the nation reigned supreme - until their next meeting. Princeton won only one of these matches, but it was the one that mattered. After the Tigers' victory yesterday, the next meeting is in October.