Almost-Perfect Season Marred by Trinity Losses

A dynasty has fallen from the top. At least temporarily, that is.

After an almost-perfect season, the Harvard men's squash team (12-2, 6-0 Ivy) lost the national championship for the first time in six years, falling 8-1 to Trinity on Feb. 28 in the Howe Cup final.

The team also lost its Coach Bill Doyle after he resigned in March.

Though only two losses marred the season, and thought both of them came at the hands of the undefeated national champion Bantams, Harvard will have some rebuilding work to do next year.

In the National Intercollegiate Squash Rackets Association (NISRA) Team Championships held at Harvard's Murr Center, the Crimson dropped an 8-1 match to Trinity to end its streak of titles.

At the No. 1 spot, sophomore Deepak Abraham, who was playing with an injury, grabbed the first game from Marcus Cowie. But Abraham dropped the next three to lose 3-1 to the two-time defending national champion.

Harvard's sole win was at No. 2, a decisive 3-0 rout by junior co-captain Tim Wyant over Trinity's Akhil Bell.

"We were disappointed, but Trinity has one of the best teams ever assembled in men's intercollegiate squash," said freshman Peter Karlen. "We feel our season was very successful."

The Crimson had lost to the Bantams by the same 8-1 margin on Feb. 6, with Karlen recording Harvard's only point of the match.

"In the two matches we lost, we lost somewhat decisively, but we put up a really good fight," Wyant said.

Being runner-up became the year's common theme after Wyant finished strong to reach the finals of the NISRA Individual Squash Championship on the weekend of March 5.

Wyant, the No. 9 seed in the tournament, defeated Cowie, the No. 1 seed, in a hard-fought quarterfinal match, 15-9, 15-7, 6-15 and 15-7.

In the semifinals, he faced No. 4 Bell and cruised to a 3-0 victory.

In the finals, Wyant drew No. 2 Peter Yik of Princeton, and his magical run would end there as he lost to Yik in three games.

"I was playing better at that time during the year than at any other time," Wyant said. "I didn't think I was really at the level of some of those top guys. I happened to have a good weekend and things sort of fell into place for me."

Despite the losses to Trinity, the Crimson's season was largely successful.

Harvard racked up its seventh straight Ivy title under Doyle's command, finishing the conference schedule with a 9-0 win over Yale on Feb. 17 that clinched the crown.

The team also lost just four individual matches out of 54 in Ivy play, dropping one to Dartmouth and three to Princeton.

Besides the regular-season loss to Trinity, the Crimson posted 8-1 wins over Navy, Williams and Amherst, and blanked MIT, Brown, Cornell, Penn and Yale during the regular-season.

"We were very pleased with how we competed against our other top competitors, Princeton and Yale," Wyant said.

Doyle's retirement comes after a seven-year run at the helm of the most successful program in Harvard athletics.

In his seven seasons as coach of the Crimson, Doyle led the squad to an incredible 93-4 overall record.

"We were upset when we found out, but we're trying to look at it as an opportunity for change, and change isn't necessarily a bad thing," junior Eric Lauer said. "We just hope that whoever we get as our next coach can have a similar kind of relationship with us as [Doyle] did."

Doyle said he wanted to relocate his family to New Orleans, and that played a major role in his decision to leave Harvard.

A 1985 graduate of Trinity College, Doyle was a four-time All-American. He captained his team to a third-place national showing as a junior and a second-place finish as a senior. While at Trinity, Doyle was named the school's top male senior athlete.

Wyant said he was anxious for news of Doyle's replacement.

"I'm dying to know," Wyant said. "It's pretty much top secret."

The Crimson will return all of its players, except one, senior Dave Beitchman, who usually played in the No. 8 slot.

Although a new coach has not been named, the team should be set for the future with a strong recruiting class.

"The younger brother of our No. 1, Deepak Abraham, will play in the top half of the lineup, as will Dylan Patterson, an incoming freshman from Brooklyn," Wyant said.

Patterson is a graduate of New York's Regis High School.

With the infusion of new blood, the Crimson's lineup will be even stronger next year.

Maybe then Harvard can show that Trinity should be the Bantamweights, and not the Bantams.