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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | March 3, 2020
Sports
upcoming
games
baseball vs. fairfield 3/6, 12 PM ___________________________________________________________
woMen’s basketball At Brown 3/6, 6 pm ___________________________________________________________
woMen’s lacrosse at bu 3/4, 5 pm ___________________________________________________________
men’s hockey Vs. st. lawrence 3/6, 7 pm ___________________________________________________________
men’s squash individual nationals 3/6, TBA ___________________________________________________________
wrestling eiwa Championships 3/6-3/7 all day ___________________________________________________________
women’s squash individual nationals 3/6, TBA ___________________________________________________________
Men’s Squash
Men’s Squash Wins Second Straight Championship By eliot min Crimson Staff Writer
Ripping a volley down the backhand side, sophomore Victor Crouin watched as his opponent, No. 3 University of Pennsylvania’s Andrew Douglas, made a desperate stab at the ball in the back corner. When his return fell short of the front wall, Crouin turned towards the roaring crowd and thumped his chest in triumph. Crouin had just come out on top in a grueling hour-long affair that saw him save three game balls to win the fourth game, 16-14, and secure a 3-1 victory for the Crimson in its first seed matchup. It was one of Harvard’s six victories against the Quakers as they beat their Ivy League counterpart, 6-1, securing their second straight national championship this past weekend. The Crimson ends the season on a 33-match win streak — it has also won its last 19 home matches. According to Crouin, staying focused during the fourth game of his match, which lasted upwards of twenty minutes, required immense mental strength. “At some point, it’s not [just about] skills and technique,” Crouin said. “It’s just who wants it the most and who can like deal with the pressure and the mental side better.” “In that last game, I just told myself to keep going and just stay positive with myself [whatever] the score was, and just keep fighting,” Crouin added. Crouin’s marathon match was a spectacle on the final day of the tournament, but Harvard’s victory was buoyed by strong performances up and down the ladder. The Crimson had actually clinched the
victory during the final stages of Crouin’s match, when junior Adam Corcoran defeated UPenn’s Wil Halen to secure Harvard’s fifth victory and its championship title. Senior co-captain Sean Hughes secured the first victory of the day for the Crimson with a 3-0 victory at the fifthseed pairing. First year Ayush Menon, playing at ninth seed, secured Harvard’s second win with a 3-0 steamrolling of his Quaker opponent. Sophomore Marwan Tarek put the Crimson within striking distance of the title with a sweep of his own at the second pairing, giving it a 3-0 lead over the Quakers. Junior Sam Scherl set the stage for Corcoran’s clincher with a 3-1 victory at the fourth-seed matchup. According to Scherl, the team’s shared sense of responsibility was instrumental to their performance this past weekend. “With weekends like this, we always take it one match at a time,” Scherl said. “And I think everyone just focused on their match. And we didn’t want anyone to feel like their match was expendable. We wanted everyone to feel like their match was the one that was going to decide it. And I think everyone really took that on and had a sense of personal responsibility. Like, ‘I’m not going to be the one to lose, I’m going to be the one to get us another point on the board’.” Several strong opponents stood in the way of Harvard’s quest for the championship. Before facing off against the Quakers, it had to fight its way through eighth-seed Drexel in the quarterfinals and fourthseed Princeton in the semifinals. However, the Crimson efficiently cut their way through
MAKING A RACKET Men’s squash defeated Princeton this weekend to secure their second straight championship. The team ends the season on a 33-match win streak. owen a. berger—Crimson photographer
both matches, securing backto-back 9-0 wins to come into the finals rested and ready to rumble. “We were really focused on getting every match done as clinically as possible,” Scherl said. Harvard has experienced sustained levels of success over the past few seasons, but getting to win the trophy in front of the home crowd was especially meaningful for the team, according to Crouin and Scherl. “I just want to thank all the parents and fans and fans of
Harvard for coming or even watching on the live stream,” Crouin said. “I think it was a very successful event here at Harvard, and it will probably be the highlight of many of our years. It’s not every day that we can play with such a deep crowd and so I think the guys deserve it and we’re really happy to win it home especially.” The victory at home was especially sweet for the Crimson’s senior players, who just missed out on the title at home their freshman year. “It’s kind of a cycle for our
seniors, a nice ending to their college squash careers,” Scherl said. “They lost it here their freshman year in a brutal battle and to be able [to come home during] their senior year and clinch it and win a final national championship I think is really meaningful for them and the whole team. So we’re just so excited to be able to perform in front of all our friends and supporters.” With the victory, Harvard closes out another phenomenal year under the leadership of Head Coach Mike Way, As-
sociate Head Coach Hameed Ahmed, and Assistant Coach Luke Hammond. The Crimson will head into next season as the reigning National Champion for the second consecutive year. This Friday, several Harvard players will make their way down to the University of Pennsylvania for individual nationals, where they will compete against the nation’s strongest collegiate players. More information will be released closer to the date of the tournament. eliot.min@thecrimson.com
Women’s Ice Hockey
Women’s Ice Hockey Defeats Yale in Triple Overtime By isabel A. levin Crimson Staff Writer
A s the clock wound down in the third period, Harvard held a 3-2 lead over Yale. Then, with 14.1 seconds remaining in regulation, Bulldog senior defender Saroya Tinker executed a
shot from the point which Dalton successfully redirected in the air, steering the puck past Crimson sophomore goaltender Lindsay Reed’s shoulder to send the game into overtime. For the subsequent two twenty-minute overtime periods, Harvard (18-13-1, 15-6-
1 ECAC) and Yale (17-15-0, 139-0 ECAC) fought an evenly matched, scoreless battle. While both teams fired pucks towards the net, all either sailed wide, rang iron, or were blocked by the goaltender. Neither team incurred a penalty. The contest appeared locked in an endless
MVP Junior forward Becca Gilmore powered the Crimson to a series victory with four goals, including a triple-OT game-winner, and two assists on the weekend. The effort would earn her ECAC Player of the Week honors.. zing gee—Crimson photographer
3-3 tie. Then, at the 17:21 mark in the third overtime, junior forward Becca Gilmore redirected captain Kat Hughes’ shot into the net, sending Harvard to the Conference semifinals. After over 100 long, hard-fought minutes of hockey, the Crimson emerged victorious. “We were able to get a quick shot on net, Kristin [Della Rovere] didn’t let up on the play, and Kat worked really hard to get [the puck] out of the corner, and after the shot, I was able to just get up on the net and get the puck and kind of shoot my own rebound,” Gilmore said. “Not a fancy goal but just getting a lot of traffic to the net.” Gilmore was named ECAC Player of the Week for her combined four goals and one assist during the ECAC Quarterfinals, including the series winner. The conference quarterfinals this past weekend featured a best-of-three series against the Bulldogs. Harvard went 2-0 against Yale in the regular season, though going into Friday’s game, the two teams hadn’t met since Dec. 6. The Crimson emerged victorious in game one, though it faltered in an overtime loss in Saturday’s game two. Harvard entered Sunday’s game looking to eliminate Yale and advance to the conference semifinals. At the game’s onset, possession constantly shifted between the Crimson and the Bulldogs as each team struggled to gain the edge on the ice. After a scoreless first period, the momentum shifted in the second when both teams received simultaneous penalties. 48 seconds later, sophomore forward Kristin Della Rovere took a long shot down the ice which Yale goaltender Gianna Meloni batted behind the net. Della Rovere
raced forward, giving the Bulldogs no time to regroup as she intercepted a Yale defender behind the net and stole the puck, wrapping around the backside of the goal and slipping the puck past an open post. The unassisted tally put Harvard up 1-0 with 16:57 to go in the second. However, 6:25 into the second stanza, the Bulldogs responded with a score of their own. Yale sophomore forward Charlotte Welch skated into the Crimson’s zone before completing a short pass back to fellow sophomore forward Claire Dalton, who was following just behind her. Dalton deftly received the puck and found twine by nailing a hard shot past Harvard goaltender Lindsay Reed. Welch, who had the assist, also notched three scores in Saturday’s game two. Penalties characterized Saturday’s contest, with the two teams combining for 41 total penalty minutes. However, in Sunday’s rematch, the first penalty did not arrive until the final second of the first stanza, when Yale firstyear forward Grace Lee headed to the box for checking. While Sunday yielded only 14 total penalty minutes, the matchup produced three power-play goals. 9:38 into the third period, Yale senior forward Kirsten Nergaard headed to the penalty box for roughing. Della Rovere capitalized on the power play opportunity with her second score of the day, receiving a pass from junior forward Keely Moy and shooting the puck through traffic to put the Crimson up 2-1. “Maryna [Macdonald] did a great job of keeping the puck in, and Keely just came around the net with the possession and gave me a perfect pass that I was able to bury with a shot,” Della
Rovere explained, adding that, “having the man advantage and knowing you have more time with the puck is very useful.” The Bulldogs responded less than three minutes later with a power-play goal of their own. After sophomore defender Maryna Macdonald received a two minute minor for high sticking, Yale launched a flurry of attempts in front of the net, culminating in Lee sliding the puck past Reed to even the score. Welch added her second assist of the day on the play. Harvard’s second power-play goal arrived after Welch went to the box for checking. With 1:16 left in the third, Moy controlled a pass from junior forward Brooke Jovanovich directly in front of the net and fired the puck past Meloni to give the Crimson a 3-2 lead late in regulation. However, the game was far from over, as Yale’s late tying goal would send the game into over 42 minutes of overtime. “There were some very special moments just getting ready to go back out there,” said Della Rovere about the atmosphere in the locker room between overtime periods. “I think that everyone in the locker room knew that we were going to come out successful, so we were just trying to keep the energy high and keep working hard.” Indeed, the team’s perseverance and tenacity paid off with Gilmore’s game-winning goal. “That was probably one of the best wins I’ve been a part of in my Harvard hockey career,” Gilmore said. Harvard will head to Ithaca to face host and one-seed Cornell on Saturday, March 7 at 1 p.m. in the ECAC Conference Semifinals. isabel.levin@thecrimson.com
