M. Squash | Foreigners squash competition

Men's squash is a recruiting battle that not all the Ivies are fighting.

While six of the top eight teams are from the Ancient Eight, the disparity between each is unmatched by any other sport.

Keep in mind, Penn defeated every one of its lower-ranked opponents this season and lost to every squad with a higher rank. There were no upsets.

The difference between No. 1 and No. 2 - and any number in the top 10, for that matter - comes down to the players on the court.

As Trinity coach Paul Assaiante said about what factors determined his current 199-match win-streak, "100 percent [recruiting] - it wasn't me," he said. "The jockey doesn't get any credit for the speed of the horse."

So what players is Assaiante finding that other coaches miss? And why would a talented squash player with academic opportunities seek Trinity instead of the Ivy League?

"Until recently, the best squash in the world was not being played in the United States," he said. "So we're out recruiting the best and brightest we can from foreign lands."

Assaiante runs a relatively large program with 22 players, 12 of whom are international. By comparison, only three of Penn's 17 players hail from outside of the United States.

Using the small-town feel of Trinity College and surrounding Hartford, Conn., Assaiante's pitch is to make an international student's educational experience comfortable.

Regarding tuition, the wealth discrepancy between parents of junior American squash players and international squash players is generally staggering. Most of Assaiante's international recruits will never have a visit from their families during their college years - not even for graduation.

"[The parents'] comfort is knowing that, 'I've got a guy over there - who's nuts and seems completely involved with my kid - and at least I know he's going to be well-watched over,'" Assaiante said.

"So, my job is to help people, most of whom come from very small communities and small towns, to understand that small-town feeling of a small NESCAC school like Trinity will be a comfort zone for them," he said.

Penn coach Craig Thorpe-Clark said Assaiante is "probably the best recruiter in the league," and "even though he's got his web of great squash contacts, kids are also calling him as well. That's part of the legacy."

Still, even Assaiante can't compete with the offer that he says Princeton puts on the table: "We're Princeton."

And he isn't getting all the players he wants anymore. The Ivy League may be acknowledging that rankings among its conference members are almost directly proportional to the number of international players on the roster.

The Tigers, with 10, are ranked No. 2, while Brown, with one, is No. 15.

Cornell's recent surge to No. 4 in the rankings is due to the recent influx of five Canadian players, while fellow top-five programs Harvard and Yale carry four international players apiece.

No. 7 Penn has three foreign players and No. 8 Dartmouth has only two.

One non-conference program catching on is No. 6 Rochester. The Yellowjackets have added six players from Canada, Britain, Finland and Japan in the last two years.

They, too, ran the table against lower-ranked opponents and finished the regular season with losses only to top-5 teams, dealing the Quakers a 9-0 defeat in the process.

Because squash features so few collegiate teams and such small rosters, several top-flight players can truly make a difference.

"It's much more difficult to have upsets in this sport," Assaiante said. "It's a sport that if you get three or four guys . you can do some special things."

Thorpe-Clark quipped that the Quakers' decade of dominance is "right around the corner."

But with a little help from the Athletic Department (and possibly Admissions), there's no reason that the Red and Blue couldn't win hundreds of games in a row, either.

"If Penn were to embrace the diversity in its athletics . they would go zooming past us," Assaiante said. "Penn is getting the best junior Americans. With a scattering of good international kids that program would get so much better."

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