Optimistic Season For Reloaded Men's Squash Team Opens With Challenging Road Trip

Head coach Sean Wilkinson knows that his program is ready to take a significant step up the ladder this season. He's not sure what rung this team will land on, but he knows that his squad is moving in the right direction.

They'll be tested at the start this weekend, as the eighth-ranked Tigers will play at both No. 15 Franklin & Marshall (Saturday, 2:30) and No. 11 George Washington (Sunday, 11). If they can get through those matches, they'll have two chances in early December to begin that climb with home matches against third-ranked St. Lawrence (Dec. 2, 11 am) and seventh-ranked Drexel (Dec. 9, 11 am).

The St. Lawrence match should be the home debut for a freshman group that could have the same type of impact as some of the great classes in program history, and it's a group that is led by highly touted newcomer Youssef Ibrahim, a former British Junior Open champion who brings the type of résumé that Yasser El-Halaby '06 once did.

The landscape of college squash has changed significantly over the last 15 years, and there are many more players with major international credentials, but Ibrahim brings Princeton the type of No. 1 player that makes the entire lineup better. And he could ascend to the top of the sport by the end of his freshman year.

When you think of some of the best Princeton teams of the last two decades, you think of 1-2 punches like Yik-Evans, Sanchez-Wong, and Harrity-Callis. The 2017-18 squad could have a similar one in Ibrahim and Adhitya Raghavan, the sophomore who reached the British Junior Open semifinal last year. Raghavan played No. 1 for Princeton as a freshman last season and earned All-America honors, and now he brings that experience and another year of offseason work into a new season. Raghavan could be as good as any No. 2 in the country, a massive advantage for the Tigers.

The ultimate success of this year's team could largely be determined by what happens from the 3-7 spots, and Wilkinson should see a spirited competition throughout the season for those spots. Among the players competing for those spots are returners like Cody Cortes, Clark Doyle, and Gabriel Morgan, as well as freshmen Cole Becker and Duncan Joyce.

Cortes had a brilliant sophomore season, when he led the Tigers with 12 wins and went through the Ivy League with a perfect 7-0 record. Cortes made his Ivy run in spectacular fashion, winning five of his matches by 3-2 scores. He showed a level of toughness in those matches that can be contagious for his teammates, and Wilkinson believes he can be even better this season following that experience.

Morgan jumped into the lineup in the top third and played a significant amount of matches at the No. 2 spot, and he still managed an impressive 10-win season. He showed a lot of resolve midway through the season; following a tough 3-2 home loss to Penn, Morgan bounced back with five-game wins over both Yale and Drexel over the next two weeks.

Doyle, who played as high as No. 1 during his freshman season, really never got the opportunity to get comfortable last season. He won his first two matches, but then injuries limited him to only four more matches scattered throughout the season. Wilkinson is hoping that a positive offseason will help get Doyle ready for the year, where he could be a scary opponent for the middle of anybody's lineup.

Becker, who has reached as high as No. 2 at the U-19 level, didn't have the same international exposure as his classmate Ibrahim, but he's played a level of squash over the last two years that Wilkinson believes measures up to almost anybody. He has the requisite racket skills to be elite, but he also has a grinder's mentality that makes him very tough to beat. The early experience should be very beneficial for Becker, who could make a big leap during his freshman season.

Similar to Becker, Joyce brings the type of fighter's mentality that Wilkinson loves. He competed for the USA at the 2016 British Junior Open and was No. 1 at the U-17 level, but then injuries impacted his ranking over the last year. Now healthy, he could make a major impact at the middle of the lineup.

Two underclassmen who will be vying for spots around the bottom of the ladder are sophomore Shehab Thabet and freshman Alex Engstrom. Thabet, who was as young as any freshman in the sport last season, won eight matches last season while playing as high as No. 5, and he brings incredible athleticism to the court. Wilkinson hopes that the year of experience will help merge that athleticism with a more consistent game, which could make him a premier player at the position.

Engstrom had a Cortes-like effort at Ivy scrimmages, where he went 3-0 and won every match in five games. He's a physical 6-4 presence on the court, but he moves well for a player of that height. Engstrom didn't get the immediate attention that the rest of his classmates did, but he could turn into one of the biggest surprises in the Ivy League this season.

Senior co-captains Abhimanyu Shah and Komron Shayegan have been strong leaders for the young roster, and they also add depth to the lineup. Shah has 26 career wins and is in his second year as a captain, while Shayegan continues to get better as a walk-on, and he showed his potential in a win over Rochester last year. Junior Spencer Anton has dealt with both injury and illness in his career, but he's another strong player who could make an impact if health allows him.

Wilkinson has more depth than ever this season, especially with the likes of Henry Parkhurst and William Oon, two guys who combined to go 8-6 in varsity matches last season. Grant Ackerman, Hamza Chaudhry, Clay Kontulis, and Adham El Sherbiny also bring a strong work ethic to the team and have improved significantly since last year.

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