Men's squash played its season-, leagueand home-opener against Cornell (1-0 overall, 1-0 Ivy League) on Sunday. Princeton (0-1, 0-1) beat the Big Red in the Ivy Scrimmages two weeks ago, 6-3, but lost to Cornell by the same score Sunday, when it counted.
Women's squash started its season with four games this weekend and achieved a drastically different result than the men. The Tigers (4-0, 1-0) defeated Haverford, Franklin & Marshall and Virginia on Saturday and Cornell on Sunday. Princeton won three of the games, 9-0, and beat Franklin & Marshall, 8-1. Against the Diplomats, freshman No. 1 Lena Neufeld recorded the only loss, 3-2.
"I played pretty badly," Neufeld said. "I was just really inconsistent. Everyone has bad days, and I guess it's better to have the bad days sooner rather than later in the season."
After losing the first match, 9-5, Neufeld rebounded to win the next two, 9-2 and 9-0, before the Diplomats' Freddy McNeely took the next two, 9-6 and 9-4, handing Franklin & Marshall its only win of the day.
The Tigers gave some of the higher-ranked players a chance to rest and were thus able to showcase their depth.
"We gave some people who normally play JV a chance to play who might not play against Harvard and Yale and Trinity," Neufeld said. "If we're able to maximize what we're doing well at, and if we can minimize the 'bad days' like the one I had Sunday, then we can compete with anyone in the country."
The women's team is still battling injuries. Freshman Christina Fast is out with a shoulder injury, sophomore co-captain Ali Pearson hasn't played at all this season because of a shin problem and freshman Casey Riley re-tore her ACL during the Ivy Scrimmages and is having surgery. Riley was expected to play at No. 1 position this season but will now miss the majority of the year, at least.
The men's team has been hit even harder.
Four starters did not return from last season. Sophomore No. 5 Brendon Bascom was injured a day before the game. Sophomores No. 4 Parker Sutton and No. 3 Michael Gilman are both coming off injuries as well.
"We've been plagued by injuries," sophomore No. 8 Tim Callahan said. "It's been terrible. If we can get healed up, we can certainly be competitive. Once everyone's back playing, and we get everyone healthy, we can take on the top teams in the country."
These injury problems took their toll against the Big Red. The men's squash team first played Cornell in the regular season in 1956. Since that time, Princeton has never lost to the Big Red during the regular season.
This weekend, however, Cornell broke that losing streak to the Tigers with a 6-3 victory over a depleted Princeton squad.
Nevertheless, the matches were all fiercely contested. Junior No. 1 Yasser El Halaby defeated his opponent Matt Serediak in three games, 9-5, 9-4 and 9-3.
Princeton also won in the No. 7 and No. 8 positions. Callahan (No. 8) rallied after dropping his first match, 9-5.
"I came in and was really nervous at the beginning of the match," Callahan said. "This was my first real match and it kind of spooked me."
Despite the setback, Callahan pulled himself together and took the next three, 9-3, 9-1 and 9-4.
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