Princeton University
Yale - Semifinal
Players Mentioned
Men's Squash Tops Yale, Will Face Trinity Again For National Title
February 16, 2008 | Men's Squash
For the third straight year, the final match of the men's squash season will take place between Trinity and Princeton. The 2008 Ivy League champion Princeton Tigers topped Yale 7-2 in the first CSA national semifinal and will take on the nine-time defending national champion Trinity Bantams Sunday at noon in Cambridge, Mass.
Princeton, which swept every Ivy League match 9-0 during the regular season, won its first seven matches of the semifinal 3-0. No. 1 player Mauricio Sanchez defeated Max Samuel 9-3, 9-1, 9-1, while No. 2 Kimlee Wong won 9-4, 9-5, 9-2. Freshman Dave Letourneau will go into his first national final on the strength of a 10-9, 9-3, 9-4 win over John Fulham.
David Canner, Hesham El Halaby, Santiago Imberton and Tom McKay were all 3-0 winners for Princeton. No. 9 Philip Sopher dropped a tough three-game match to Nasihadh Lalwani, while twin brother Peter Sopher fell in five games at No. 8.
Princeton will now take on Trinity, which defeated the Tigers 6-3 in a regular-season home match earlier this month. Both teams will use the same lineups from the regular-season showdown. Princeton won at spots 3 (Letourneau), 4 (Canner) and 5 (El Halaby). Imberton fell in five games at No. 6, while the remaining five Tigers fell in three games. The highlight matches will be at No. 1, where 2007 finalist Sanchez takes on Baset Chaudhry, whom is 2-0 against Sanchez, and at No. 2, where both Wong and Gustav Detter have earned wins against their championship opponent.
Trinity has won 182 consecutive matches, which includes each of the last two national finals over Princeton. The Bantams won a 5-4 thriller at Jadwin Gym in 2006 and cruised to a 9-0 win in New Haven last year.
PRINCETON 9, YALE 0
1 - Mauricio Sanchez (P) d. Max Samuel 3, 1, 1
2 - Kimlee Wong (P) d. Aaron Fuchs 4, 5, 2
3 - David Letourneau (P) d. John Fulham 10-9, 3, 4
4 - David Canner (P) d. Francis Johnson 2, 2, 5
5 - Hesham El Halaby (P) d. Homing Chu 7, 1, 1
6 - Santiago Imberton (P) d. Moshe Sarfaty 7, 4, 0
7 - Tom McKay (P) d. Todd Ruth 6, 6, 0
8 - Colin Campbell (Y) d. Peter Sopher (7), 10-8, 1, (7), 3
9 - Naishadh Lalwani (Y) d. Philip Sopher 6, 7, 4