Trinity Set To Defend National Men's National Title This Weekend by David Kingsley Hartford, Conn., Feb. 13, 2014
- The Trinity College Bantam men’s squash team, which has a 16-1 record
after a 6-3 win against the No. 4-ranked St. Lawrence University Saints
on Saturday, will look to defend its College Squash Association (CSA)
National Team Championship (Potter Trophy) title for the 14th time in
the last 15 years this weekend at Harvard University. The Bantams,
which earned their eighth consecutive New England Small College
Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championship title earlier this month, has
the No. 2 spot in the CSA National Rankings having lost, 7-2, to
Harvard on February 4 for its first setback in 35 games. Trinity
will open post-season play against the No. 7-seeded Cornell University
Big Red (9-5) on Friday, February 14 at 11:30 a.m.
The Bantams, coached
by Paul Assaiante (20th season, 356-11), will face the winner of
Friday’s match featuring No. 3-seeded Yale and No. 6-seeded Rochester
in the CSA Semifinals on Saturday, February 15 at noon if they win
against Cornell, and the CSA Finals will take place on Sunday, February
16 at 1 p.m. The Potter Trophy consists of the top eight teams in
intercollegiate squash in a three-round, single elimination
tournament. The other CSA Quarterfinal matches are top-seeded
Harvard against No. 8-seeded Pennsylvania, and No. 4-seeded St.
Lawrence against No. 5-seeded Franklin and Marshall. Trinity
defeated Cornell, 6-3, at home on January 13.
Trinity has a combined
individual match record of 128-25 in its 17 matches this year,
including wins over six of the eight teams in the tournament.
Junior Moustafa Hamada (Old Bridge, N.J.) and sophomore Zeyad Elshorafy
(Alexandria, Egypt) lead Trinity with 16-1 individual marks, while
senior captain Matthew Mackin (Greenwich, Conn.) is 15-1, and junior
John Lamont (Montreal, Quebec) is 9-1. Junior Miled Zarazua
(Mexico City, Mexico) is 8-7 at the top of the Trinity lineup, while
sophomore Karan Malik (Mumbai, India) is 11-4 at the No. 2 spot, and
junior Vrishab Kotian (Mumbai, India) is 13-3 at the No. 3
position. Junior Elroy Leong (Selangor, Malaysia), sophomore Juan
Vargas (Bogota, Colombia) and first-year Affeeq (Ismail (Kuching,
Malaysia) round out the Trinity lineup, having combined for a 37-7
record among them this winter.
