The women’s squash team begins its biggest weekend of the season as it competes for the Howe Cup. The Howe Cup, which will take place at Yale, is essentially women’s squash’s national championship tournament and the final meet before the WISA Individual tournament.
The Red (5-6) is coming off a lopsided 9-0 loss to No. 1 Trinity, where no Cornell player succeeded at winning a match. Unfortunately for the Red, the road to the Howe Cup will most likely go through Trinity, along with Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Brown and Dartmouth — all teams which beat the Red during the season.
Cornell has fallen in ranking since the winter hiatus. It was considered as high as fifth in the country. After losses to the Green, Elis and Bears, the Red fell to eighth. Senior captain Olga Puigdemont-Sola has also dropped in the individual rankings from No. 2 to a three-way tie for No. 5.
However, Puigdemont-Sola has only lost one match, coming against Amina Helal of Trinity.
Both Trinity and Harvard have three players who are in the top-10 among collegiate squash players. Harvard won the Howe Cup last year, and six of the last nine.
The tournament will last three days, culminating with the championship on Sunday. If favorite Trinity wins, it will be the first time that a non-Ivy League squad captured the Howe Cup.
On the other hand Cornell has never won the Howe Cup either. The only teams to ever win it are Princeton, Harvard, Yale and Penn.
Archived article by Amanda Angel