College Squash Association CSA Teams 2009

[Draw/Results] [Potter Sat] [Hoehn Sat] [Summers Sat] [Conroy Fri] [Chaffee Fri] [Serues Sat]

(updated 25-feb-09 11:18 )

The two College squash men's juggernauts (Princeton and Trinity) both won their semi final contests to move into another meeting at this years CSA Team Nationals. Both squads had to work hard for their wins, and Rochester in particular, were impressive in their opposition to Princeton, staking a very legimate claim for a position among the elite CSA contenders.

SEIZING THE MOMENT
For the top

teams at this year's National Championships, the weekend has been all about getting another chance: A chance to show they've arrived. A chance for redemption. A chance to solidify superiority. For several of the most successful players in recent college squash history, it is a last chance. Will Gustav "the one who saved the streak" Detter leave as a part of perfection, or will "the three amigos" – Mauricio Sanchez, Kimlee Wong, Hesham El Halaby- leave as heroes? All of the chances will be used up and the questions answered Sunday afternoon when each team proves exactly where they belong, with all eyes turning to Trinity and Princeton at 1 p.m. when they battle it out for the National Championship.

Though their destination in the Potter Cup final was the same, the path through the semis was much different. The majority of Trinity's matches against Harvard were short and one-sided, while several Princeton players engaged in long, physical duals against the University of Rochester. Crowd members whispered variations of "Rochester is helping Trinity out" - before the match was decided and long before Harvard and Trinity ever stepped on court.

Princeton head coach Bob Callahan saw it differently.

"The guys who had long matches today needed them," Callahan said. "It was good to go through a tough match and get confidence and see what they need to do. It was excellent preparation."

Chris Callis, Princeton's No. 3, was the first Tiger to find himself in a difficult position, dropping the first game against Hameed Ahmed.

"Chris was frustrated he wasn't able to do what he wanted to," Callahan said. "Hameed was playing too well. He's (Hameed) a wonderful talent, with exceptional shotmaking."

Callis won the second and dropped the third. At this point, things looked hopeful for Rochester. The Yellowjackets' No. 7, Joe Chapman, had just defeated Kelly Shannon, and Fred Reid led David Canner by two games at No. 5.

Chapman stuck to the gameplan imparted to him by teammates who had played Shannon in the past: Hit the ball straight – straight drive or straight drop, and that's it. And that gameplan gave Rochester it's sole win today.

"I think I played really well, some of the best squash of my life," Chapman said after the match. But that was in the end Rochester's sole highpoint. The Princeton players slowly but steadily started righting the ship. The momentum began to shift.

In a key momentum turner, Callis finally won the number 3 position match in five, taking close fourth and fifth games, going from 3-3 in the fifth to a win going away.

"Chris was fortunate Hameed made a few mistakes late in the second and in the fifth," Callahan said.

Princeton went on to win the remaining positions, none as easily as the scoreline suggests.

"I think Rochester is a very talented team," Callahan said. "They played well today, did beautifully. I'm sure we'll hear lots more about them over the next few years."

MORE WORK TO DO FOR THE YELLOWJACKETS

Rochester is hoping people hear about a Sunday win over Harvard. The team lost 5-4 to Harvard in Cambridge during the season, squandering the opportunity to win it. Rochester head coach Martin Heath and his team are on a mission to turn the close loss into a win.

"This is why we're here," Heath said. "Our goal was to finish third this season. We've proven that we are a top team. Even Princeton and Trinity have to play their best with us."

Trinity's semifinal match may have been rather clear cut, but the Bantams will have their hands full in the final. Just over one week ago, Trinity defeated Princeton 5-4.

"Last weekend Princeton was the better team," said Trinity head coach Paul Assaiante. "We got lucky."

Both coaches agree on what needs to happen Sunday: They're team needs to be better than they were if they hope to win the title of "the best."

UPSETS ABOUND IN OTHER SEVEN DIVISIONS

While each of the so-called "placement draws" (since they play a dominating role in determining end of season rankings) often play out according to pre-season rankings form. That has been very far from the case this year. Upsets have marked play all over the ladder.

Some of the notable results in other divisions included 20th ranked Middlebury's charge into the Summers Divison finals where they will face Bowdoin for 17th place. Bowdoin survived a furious contest with perennial rival Tufts. Tufts elevated its game to produce a very evenly fought semi finals. One knowledgeable observer expressed amazement that this contest was being battled in the "C" division. "This is C level squash, " he remarked. "The level of play has increased remarkably in the CSA over just the last few seasons."

Also 28th ranked Stanford's recorded a close 5-4 win over Hobart which catapaults them into the Conroy /division finals. That finals between Stanford and Conn College, has been rescheduled to Sunday morning at the Streetsquash Center in Harlem, Manhatten NY to acommodate Stanford's flight back to the west coast..

36th seeded Drexel's earned a tense win over Columbia followed by a strong win ove 33rd seed MIT and a place in the Chaffee finals against Vanderbilt.

Also there were strong showing by Notre Dame and Lafayette in the Hawthorne Division, where they will face each other for the silver Sunday morning.

THE NIGHTCAP IN THE HOEHN DIVISION

Brown and St. Lawrence closed the night with a memorable first-time meeting. The teams were stuck at 2-all for quite a while, before Brown's No. 7, 5 and 2 won their matches minutes apart, clinching the win for the Bears. But as the clock hit 10 p.m. in a nearly empty Jadwin Gym, court 5 was surrounded by two laughing, cheering teams as No. 1s Adrian Urban Leanza and Alex Dodge headed into five games.

Brown's Leanza went up 2-1, and just when it looked as though the night was about to end, Dodge forced a fifth. The two put on a performance that would have lured spectators from other matches, had there been any left. Instead it was teammates, coaches and parents who were treated to a match between two players having a blast – running, diving and joking between points. Dodge won the fifth, with Leanza scraping himself off the floor to shake his hand while the small but grateful crowd gave them a standing ovation.

Afterword, Leanza, who also plays ultimate frisbee, said he wished he could play another five gamer because he was having so much fun, and clearly had the stamina left. He may get his chance today when Brown meets Navy in the 11th place match.

CORNELL AND YALE TO MEET FOR FIFTH PLACE

The battle for fifth and seventh will be rematches of incredibly tight dual match outcomes. Cornell defeated Dartmouth to set up a meeting with Yale, who downed Penn. Cornell and Yale will meet Sunday for fifth place, while Penn and Dartmouth will go for seventh. Penn defeated Dartmouth 5-4 just over a week ago, while Yale defeated Cornell 5-4 in January.

Cornell suffered a crushing loss to Harvard in the first round, while Yale played victim in Rochester's breakthrough Nationals.

"That was our big match and we blew it," Cornell head coach Mark DeVoy said of the Harvard loss.

DeVoy and Yale Associate Head Coach Gareth Webber wondered how their teams would perform after their respective losses. Both were pleased with how they rebounded. Sunday will see some new individual matchups, and by DeVoy and Webbers' predictions, a very tight match.

"We've had a couple tight matches, so have they," DeVoy said. "It's going to come down to who is better on the day, how the team performs, and how the order of the matchups go."

All eyes will be on the marquee courts at 1:30PM on Sunday in Princeton; where the Tigers will come into the finals against perennial #1 Trinity with their strongest chance in years to unseat the defending champs from Hartford.

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