W. Squash | Crimson spoil tourney hopes

Heading into the season ranked No. 2, the women's squash team had its eyes on returning to the finals of the Howe Cup with dreams of winning the national championship.

Unfortunately for the Quakers, they failed to reach that goal this weekend.

Although Penn won 8-1 over Cornell in the first round, its run was stopped by Harvard in the semifinals Saturday in Cambridge, Mass., as the Crimson won the match in front of their home fans, 7-2. Then in the third-place game, Penn couldn't stop the bleeding, falling to Trinity, 5-4.

"The odds were stacked against us in some respects," Penn coach Jack Wyant said.

Wyant was referring to the fact that Harvard hosted the Howe Cup, as well as the fact that senior Emily Goodwin went down with a knee injury against Princeton Jan. 28 and was still not in the lineup.

Against Harvard, the Quakers fell behind quickly and were facing a 2-0 deficit when senior co-captain Alisha Turner had a fantastic opportunity to swing the momentum in Penn's favor. Turner won the first game and, up 7-2 in the second, was just two points away from going up 2-0 in the match. However, Turner lost the game, 10-8.

Her collapse continued in the third game. She was up 8-1, but just couldn't get the winning point and ended up losing, 10-8.

"I played really great up until those points," Turner said. "I got tentative and wasn't as aggressive and wasn't putting as much pressure on her as I should have and I let her back into the match."

Sophomore Annie Madeira also fell victim to poor play in big points. Madeira was up 1-0 in games and had two game ball points in the second game but ended up losing both points. She ended up losing the match in four close games.

After their loss to Harvard, the Red and Blue were matched up against Trinity to determine who would be the No. 3 and No. 4 teams in the nation.

Penn's bad luck continued, as the usually invincible Penn No. 1 Kristin Lange lost to Trinity senior Nour Bhgat, 9-2, 9-7, 5-9, 9-6, in the deciding match. This loss left the Quakers ranked No. 4 in the country.

"We give a lot of credit to Harvard and Trinity," Wyant said. "We had a very successful season. Fourth in the country isn't bad. We're happy about that."

The Quakers (10-4) can now look forward to the CSA Individuals. Wyant estimates that between four and seven of his players could participate.

"They are all playing the best squash of their life and they can play really well at Individuals," Wyant said of his three best players: Lange, Sydney Scott and Turner.

One thing is for sure, the team practices and bus rides are over for the seniors.

"It's definitely a sad thing, I'm gonna miss playing with all of these girls," Turner said. "They are my best friends."

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