Trinity Men Claim 15th National Title With 7-2 Win Over St. Lawrence by David Kingsley
St. Lawrence's Amr Khalifa
February 22, 2015 - Hartford, Conn.
- Sophomore Affeeq Ismail (Kuching, Malaysia) came back from a 2-1
deficit and won game four, 11-4, and game five, 11-9, in the No. 8
position to clinch the 2015 College Squash Association (CSA) National
Championship (Potter Trophy) Finals for the host Trinity College
Bantams this afternoon at Kellner Center. Trinity, seeded No. 1
in the field but ranked No. 5 nationally at the start of this season,
downed the No. 2-seeded St. Lawrence University Saints, 7-2, to capture
its 15th national title.
Finishing the year with a 20-1 record, the Bantams have won 15 Potter
Trophy crowns in the last 17 seasons. Trinity was hosting the CSA
National Championships for the first time, and appearing in its 19th
consecutive Potter Trophy Final. The Bantams won the title each
year from 1999 to 2011 and again in 2013 prior to today, while
finishing as runner-up in 1997, 1998, 2012, and 2014. Today's
final was the first Potter Trophy Championship to feature two Division
III colleges in the history of the event.
Trinity first-years Rick Penders (Maastricht, Netherlands) and Omar
Allaudin (Lahore, Pakistan) gave the home team a quick 2-0 lead, and
fellow rookie James Evans (Maidstone, England) heroically pulled out
the No. 6 match, 3-2, against St. Lawrence freshman Hussein Elrayes
(Cairo, Egypt) to make it 3-0. Evans was down, 2-1, but took the
fourth and fifth games by 11-7 scores to give Trinity a sweep of the
first wave.
"We felt we needed a fast start in what we knew would be extremely
competitive matches," said Trinity Head Coach Paul Assaiante.
"Rick Penders came out on fire, and all three freshmen really came
through for us."
Senior co-captain Karan Malik (Bangalore, India) won, 3-0, in the No. 5
match for a 4-0 Bantam lead, but the Saints collected their first point
when rookie Edgar Zayas (Querataro, Mexico) edged Bantam senior Miled
Zarazua (Mexico City, Mexico), 3-2, in the No. 2 position. Ismail
and St. Lawrence freshman Lockie Munro (Toronto, Ontario) traded games
back and forth in the No. 8 match, as Munro outlasted Ismail, 13-11, in
the third game, but Ismail rallied to take the next two, 11-4, and,
11-9, to clinch the team decision. In the third wave, senior
co-captain Moustafa Hamada (Alexandria, Egypt) and junior Juan Vargas
(Bogota, Colombia) won for Trinity, while Saint junior Amr Khalifa
(Cairo, Egypt) downed senior Vrishab Kotian (Mumbai, India), 3-1, in
the No. 1 spot.
"I am so happy for this team and also glad that the College was able to
celebrate this occasion with us," added Assaiante. "This really
felt like a victory for the whole campus. We were down and out
last spring after losing to Harvard in the finals, but finding out this
year's tournament was going to be held in Hartford, turned the whole
ship around."
MATCH RESULTS
1. SL- Amr Khalifa d. Vrishab Kotian, 6-1, 11-6, 14-12, 12-10
2. SL- Edgar Zavas d. Miled Zarazua, 9-11, 11-9, 11-6, 9-11, 11-8
3. TC - Rick Penders d. Ahmed Bayoumy, 11-8, 11-7, 11-2
4. TC- Juan Vargas d. Ibrahim Khan, 11-5, 11-4, 11-3
5. TC- Karan Malik d. Anderson Good, 11-5, 11-8, 11-4
6. TC- James Evans d. Hussien Elrayes, 11-8, 10-12, 6-11, 11-7, 11-7
7. TC- Moustafa Hamada d. Duncan Maxwell, 11-7, 11-7, 15-13
8. TC- Affeeq Ismail d. Lockie Munro 8-11, 11-7, 11-13, 11-4, 11-9.
9. TC- Omar Allaudin d. Christopher Fernandez, 13-11, 11-9, 11-5 Trinity (Conn.) 7, St. Lawrence 2
