The men’s squash team wrapped up its season on Sunday, placing fourth in Division “D” at the National Team Tournament. The weekend began with an 8-1 victory over Haverford College last Friday, leaving the Cards ready to turn heads.
A season-long maturation process had shaped a team with no seniors and many talented freshmen and sophomores into a legitimate threat at Nationals.
However, the Cardinals ran into a formidable Middlebury team on Saturday and lost 2-7, leaving them to play for third place on Sunday. The showdown against Northwestern was a rematch of a 5-4 loss suffered on Jan. 26, and was just as hotly contested.
The Cardinals were without the services of the experienced Benjie Messenger-Barnes ’09 and, after adjusting their rotation, were unable to snatch a win. The score read as it did back in January, with a 5-4 win for Northwestern.
“I think we worked hard for the Haverford win, and it was nice to see that so many people did what they had to do,” said Daniel Charness ’10. “Against Northwestern we were down a man, yet still managed to keep the match close against a really tough team.”
Wesleyan leaves the weekend respectably as the 28th team in the country, and with a lot look forward to. Evan Lodge ’08 turned in a perfect weekend for Wesleyan, winning all three of his matches in straight sets, while Robert Broadfoot ’10 fought hard in the number one spot with a record of 2-1.
Broadfoot will have the honor of representing Wesleyan and himself at the upcoming National Individual Tournament at the University of Pennsylvania on March 2 to 4. The freshman sensation led the team with 12 match wins this season with an overall record of 7-7 at the team’s top spot.
It is such young talent that is helping men’s squash to improve as a program here at Wesleyan. With this year being only the second for Head Coach Shona Kerr and the second of actual recruiting, there are high hopes for the future of the program.
A core of young talent and the leadership of returning co-captains JZ Golden ’08 and Lodge will make 2007-2008 an interesting year for the Cardinals.
“We are still early in the process of building a program here and it will take some time,” said Tyler Snell ’09. “But we already have three great recruits and are excited about all the room for improvement we have.”
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