The Cornell men’s squash team traveled this weekend to New Haven, Conn., for the annual Ivy Scrimmages to face the top teams in the country.
The Red played three tough matches against Ivy Rivals Pennsylvania, Brown, top ranked Yale. Cornell beat Penn and Brown, 7-2 and 8-2, respectively in two big moral builders.
“They were both very decisive victories”, head coach Scott Stoneburgh said.
Yet, the Red fell to the always tough Yale by a very misleading score of 8-1.
Sophomore transfer Tim Nagel won the lone match for Cornell against Yale, and even though it looked like a blowout, the one win was a major moral victory. “It was exciting to see that we really pushed Yale. We were louder and more supportive than any other team there,” Stoneburgh noticed.
The team is lead by co-captains senior Rajat Khanna and sophomore Jeff Porter, each, coach Stoneburgh said, played “fantastic”.
Freshman Geoff Fong and Nagel stood out as the new stars of the team, providing the team with a strong base for at least the next three years.
First year player, junior Chad Burkhardt played a five game masterpiece against Yale, just falling short in the end, an example of the Red’s overall play versus the Elis. “It was a very close match, we definitely had them shocked,” Stoneburgh said.
Cornell was seeded ninth in the tournament this weekend and is ranked fifth overall in the Ivy League behind the perennial powerhouses Harvard, Yale and Princeton.
Last year the Red finished with a record of 11-7 overall and 2-4 in the Ivy League.
Next, the team travels for two tough conference challenges against Penn on Nov. 18 and Princeton on Nov.19th.
Archived article by Josh Vlasto