Princeton Wins Final Three Matches To Beat Trinity 5-4 And Take National Championship
by David Kingsley
photo Princeton Athletic Communications
Princeton, N.J., February 19, 2012 – The visiting Trinity College Bantams saw their 13-year streak of College Squash Association (CSA) National Team Championship titles come to an end this afternoon with a gut-wrenching, 5-4 loss to the Princeton University Tigers on the Jadwin Courts. Trinity, which had won 10 matches in a row following its first loss since the 1998 CSA Finals, 5-4, at Yale 32 days ago, ends the season with an 18-2 record. Princeton wins its 11th national title and its first since 1993, and finishes the year at 15-1.
Trinity, seeded No. 1 in the tournament as the nation's top-ranked team, had beaten No. 2-seeded Princeton, 7-2, at home on February 1, and had not lost to the Tigers since its 1997-98 regular-season finale. The Bantams carried the longest winning streak in the history of intercollegiate varsity sports of 244 consecutive victories into the 2011-12 season, and had increased the streak to 252 wins before losing at Yale.
The Bantams found themselves in an early 2-0 hole after a 3-0 win by Princeton freshman No. 3 Tyler Osborne (Kingston, Ontario) over fellow rookie Miled Zarazua (Mexico City, Mexico) and a 3-2 comeback win by Tiger senior Clay Blackiston (Greenwich, Conn.) against Bantam rookie Vrishab Kotian (Mumbai, India) in the No. 6 match. Trinity's third rookie in the lineup, Moustafa Hamada (Alexandria, Egypt) salvaged the first wave for the visitors with a 3-2 triumph in the No. 9 match over senior David Pena (Mexico City, Mexico).
Trinity sophomore Matthew Mackin (Greenwich, Conn.) completed an undefeated individual record in duals (18-0) with a 3-1 win in the No. 8 match over Princeton junior Steve Harrington (Philadelphia, Pa.) to tie the team score at 2-2, and senior co-captain Antonio Diaz-Gonzalez (Mexico City, Mexico) outlasted Tiger senior Chris Callie (Wyndmoor, Pa.), 3-2, with an 11-6 win in the fifth game of the No. 2 match to give Trinity its first lead of the day at 3-2. Bantam junior Johan Detter (Malmoe, Sweden) won, 3-1, in a lengthy contest against Tiger freshman Sam Kang (Singapore) in the No. 4 position for a 4-2 Bantam lead as classmate Juan Flores (San Salvador, El Salvador) went ahead, 1-0, in the No. 7 match to leave Trinity two games from its 14th national crown.
Princeton sophomore Dylan Ward (Chestnut Hill, Pa.) rallied to win the next three games against Flores, while Tiger junior Todd Harrity (Philadelphia, Pa.) and senior Kelly Shannon (Calgary, Alberta) built 2-0 leads in the No. 1 and No. 4 matches, respectively, to quickly turn the momentum back to the Tigers. Harrity completed his win over Trinity senior co-captain Vikram Malhotra (Mumbai, India), 3-0, for a 4-4 tie, and Shannon ended the match in Princeton's favor with an 11-7 triumph in the third game over Bantam junior Reinhold Hergeth (Bloemfontein, South Africa).
PRINCETON 5, TRINITY 4
1 - Todd Harrity (P) d. Vikram Malhotra 6,8,6
2 - Antonio Diaz Glez (T) d. Chris Callis (3),6,4,(7),6
3 - Tyler Osborne (P) d. Miled Zarazua 7,8,9
4 - Kelly Shannon (P) d. Reinhold Hergeth 11,8,9
5 - Johan Detter (T) d. Samuel Kang 9,3,(8),11
6 - Clay Blackiston (P) d. Vishrab Kotian 6,(5),(9),9,2
7 - Dylan Ward (P) d. Juan Flores (8),1,7,9
8 - Matthew Mackin (T) d. Steve Harrington 7,8,(8),8
9 - Moustafa Hamada (T) d. David Pena (9),5,8, 8
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