Saturday, December 24, 2016

New Website Live & Happy Holidays

We are happy to let you know that we’ve launched our new Harvard Squash website today. 

You can visit the site at www.harvardsquash.org

The website is there to provide updates on how our teams are doing and to highlight the successful history of our programs. We hope it serves as a useful resource.

A special thank you to Dean Bauer ’67 who kindly let us use his pictures on the website. The site wouldn’t look the same without them.

We wish you a happy holiday and hope to see you in the new year!

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Both teams beat Dartmouth

While the women cruised to a 9-0 victory over Dartmouth without dropping a game last night, the men’s match was a lot closer than the 8-1 scoreline suggests: In the bottom 3 matches, the Crimson won 3-2 and 3-1 at #7 and #8, and lost 2-3 at #9. Freshman Saad Abouaish at #1 also had a challenging match that he eventually won in four games. Other matches were closely fought but were over in 3 games.
 
All in all, a solid start to the season from both teams. Both squads were also still missing 1-2 players from the line-ups so the teams are definitely in good shape for the season.
 
The players are now studying for their final exams before traveling home for the holidays. They’ll return to campus for the first weekend in January and then travel to Philadelphia on January 12th for the Drexel, Penn and Princeton matches. 
 
Go Crimson!
 
Full Results:
 
Harvard Women vs. Dartmouth Women 9-0
 
Harvard Men vs. Dartmouth Men 8-1

Monday, December 5, 2016

Dartmouth + Team Store

Dartmouth Match on Wednesday

Our season opener against Dartmouth will start at 4pm at the Murr Center this Wednesday. 

If you can’t make it there in person, the matches will be streamed 

Get Your Harvard Squash Team Gear Now!

We wanted to remind you that the Boathouse Team Store is still open (until December 13th) so if you haven’t put in your order already, make sure you do before it’s too late. 


We’ve added a youth T-shirt for our younger fans. 

This is a limited time offer. The store will only be open until midnight on December 13th. This is to ensure that everything gets shipped before the squash season really kicks off in January. 

By purchasing gear, you’re supporting the Harvard Squash programs. All the proceeds go directly to the Friends of Harvard Squash. 

All items are custom built in the USA and will ship directly to your homes. If you have any questions about the gear or the store, please call 1-800-875-1883 X 209 to speak with someone in the Boathouse Team Store Departments.

Go Crimson!



Monday, November 14, 2016

Both teams win Ivy Scrimmages

After two hard-fought finals, both of our teams won the Ivy Scrimmages this past weekend. 

Before the final against Penn - a repeat of last year's national championship final - our women beat Brown (9-0) and Yale (9-0). As expected, the Penn match was extremely close from start to finish. While the Crimson lost at #1, #2, #3 and #6, the depth of our team secured a close 5-4 win in the end. 

The men beat Cornell (9-0) and Penn (6-3) on their way to the final. Meanwhile, Columbia beat Yale (defending Ivy and national champion) in the other semifinal to make their first final appearance ever at the Scrimmages. After two rounds of play, the teams were tied at 3-3 but the Crimson went 3-0 in the last round to record a 6-3 win. 

The weekend showed that we’re certainly on the right track but many other teams are right there with us. There's still a lot of work to be done but it will definitely be another exciting season of college squash.

Thank you for all the support at Yale this weekend!

Our first official match of the season is only a few weeks away: Both teams will face Dartmouth (@Harvard) on December 7th at 4pm.

Go Crimson!

Thursday, November 10, 2016

Ivy Scrimmages & Preseason Rankings

Ivy Scrimmages This Weekend
 
While the first official college match is still a few weeks away, the Ivy teams will be competing at Yale this weekend at the Ivy Scrimmages. 
 
Our women’s team is seeded #1 and will face Brown in the first round on Saturday at 12:30pm. Our #3 seeded men’s team will play against Cornell at 10am on Saturday.
 
We’re attaching the draws to this e-mail. 
 
We hope to see many of you at Yale!
 


CSA Preseason Team Rankings
 
The CSA published the preseason team rankings last week. Based on the CSA coaches’ votes, our women’s team starts the season ranked #1 in the nation and the men are ranked #5. 
 
Women’s preseason rankings:
 
Men’s preseason rankings:



Harvard-Yale Participation Challenge

Starting today, Harvard will be in a friendly competition with Yale to see which College can secure the largest number of donors leading up to The Game on November 19th

The Goal? 
To beat Yale and raise 4,000 gifts between today and Game Day. 

What counts?
It's all about participation! No gift is too small and all gifts, pledges, and pledge payments made by College alumni from November 10 through November 19 at 11:59:59 PM will be counted toward Challenge totals. To make sure a gift is counted in time, please give ONLINE. 

How to give to the squash teams?
To give to the squash teams, go to https://community.alumni.harvard.edu/give/15716515 and select “Squash”.

More information on the Challenge: http://alumni.harvard.edu/harvard-yale-challenge

Thank you for all your support.

Go Crimson!

Friday, October 28, 2016

Fall Update

It’s that time of the year again; the squash season is around the corner! 

Our teams started their official practice season last week. Until then, the captains had been in charge of pre-season training. While we’ve had a few minor injuries on the squads, both teams are looking good and ready for another successful season.

Class of 2020: A combination of domestic and international talent

We’re proud and excited to welcome our new freshmen class to Harvard. 

On the men’s side, Saadeldin Abouaish (runner-up at the World Junior Championship this past summer) is joined by top American juniors, Timmy Brownell (US Junior Open Champion) and Sean Hughes (3-time US Junior National Champion). As the team didn’t lose anyone from the top 9 this past year, we will have a much deeper team this season. 

The women’s team will defend its national and Ivy League titles with the help of 3 freshmen. 2 of them come from England and one from the US: The Brits, Amelia Henley (finished 6th at the World Juniors) and Gina Kennedy (5-time British Junior Champion), have both won the Individual European Championship before coming to Harvard; Kennedy in 2015 and Henley in 2016. US junior national team member, Eleonore Evans, is off to a great start at Harvard and is expected to be contending for a top 9 position already in her freshman year.

Additionally, we have two walk-ons joining the teams after successfully getting through the tryout process: Theo Mendez ’19 joins the men’s team and Annika Engstrom ’20 will play on our women’s squad. We also have a newly appointed student team manager for the men’s team, Rana Bansal ’19.

Koh and McLaughlin continue; Women’s team selects new captains

Bryan Koh ’17 and Devin McLaughlin ’17 were strong co-captains last year as juniors and their teammates voted them to continue through their senior year. Our women selected Dileas MacGowan ’17 and Caroline Monrad ’17 as their senior co-captains and they’re off to a great start with the team.

Match Schedule for 2016 / 17:

November
12-13 | Ivy Scrimmages, Yale

December
07 | Dartmouth @ Harvard, 4PM

January
13 | Drexel @ Drexel, 12PM (Women), 2PM (Men)
14 | Penn @ Penn, 12PM (Men), 3PM (Women)
15 | Princeton @ Princeton, 12PM (Women), 2:30PM (Men)
19 | Stanford @ Stanford, 5PM (Women only)
28 | Rochester @ Rochester, 12PM (Men only)
29 | St. Lawrence @ St. Lawrence, 12PM (Men only)

February
04 | Columbia @ Harvard, 12PM
05 | Cornell @ Harvard, TBD
08 | Trinity @ Harvard, 4PM
10 | Brown @ Brown, 4PM (Women), 6PM (Men)
11 | Stanford @ Harvard, 11AM (Women only)
12 | Yale @ Harvard, 1PM

17-19 | Men’s Team Nationals @ Harvard
24-26 | Women’s Team Nationals @ Princeton

March
03-05 | Individual Nationals @ Dartmouth

Upcoming Alumni Events

While we hope to see many of you at our matches, we will also have a number of alumni events this season. We will send more details later in the year: 

- NYC Hit Around during the Tournament of Champions (Jan 16, 17 or 18) 
- San Francisco alumni event after the women’s Stanford match (Jan 19)
- An event during the weekend of the Men’s Team Nationals at Harvard (Feb 17-19)

What else has been going on? 

Rob Dinerman’s book, A History of Harvard Squash, was published almost exactly one year ago, on October 24th, 2015. During the evening, we heard some unforgettable experiences and stories from many former coaches and players and of course, Rob Dinerman himself. If you’re interested in purchasing the book, let us know by responding to this e-mail.

Pictures from the event can be found in our Facebook gallery (no login required): https://www.facebook.com/pg/Harvard-Squash-385174613824/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10153834282238825

The annual Spring Reunion Hit Around took place in May. Over 20 alumni and many more family members joined us for a fun morning at the Murr Center.

If you haven’t seen the pictures yet, check out our Facebook gallery (no login required): https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154326571943825.1073741833.385174613824&type=1&l=6df91d05c3

Ali Farag ’14 and Amanda Sobhy ’15 have both had amazing runs on the professional circuit. They’ve solidified their spots in the world’s top 10 recently and they recorded their career-high rankings this month: After just a couple of years out of college, both Ali and Amanda are ranked 6th in the world! 

Hope Prockop ’90 continued her success at the British Open Masters this year by winning both the 40+ and 45+ titles. She also reached the 45+ semifinals at the World Masters in September.

- Finally, we want to congratulate both Ali Farag '14 and Nigel Koh '14 on getting married this past summer! Ali and his wife, Nour El Tayeb, are based in Cairo but they both travel the world competing on the professional squash circuit. Nigel has relocated to San Francisco with his wife.

Another exciting college season is about to start. We’ll be in touch again after the Ivy Scrimmages in a few weeks. 

Go Crimson!

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Coming up: Harvard Squash Reunion Weekend

2016 REUNION SQUASH COMMITTEE

Mike Way, Gregory Lee '87 and Russell Ball '88 Endowed Head Coach for Squash
Reed Endresen '11
Richard Hill '11
Blair Clark-Schoeb '96
Robert Greenhill '91
Hope Prockop '90

Dear squash alumni,

Please join the 2016 Harvard Squash Reunion Committee at the Murr Center on Saturday, May 28, 2016 for an informal hit/visit with Harvard Squash from 10-11:30am.  Spouses, partners and children welcome!

We will have some light refreshments and courts 1-5 reserved for some healthy old and new rivalries. We will have racquets, balls and goggles to lend but please remember to bring your own squash shoes.

Please RSVP to Trevor MacDonald (tmacdonald@fas.harvard.edu) by May 16, 2016.

Reunion is five weeks away. Dust off the backhand and see you soon!

Check out pictures from the 2015 Reunion Weekend here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153641071003825.1073741830.385174613824&type=3