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Cornell Rallies For 5-4 Win Over Men's Squash; Tigers Host Trinity Saturday
February 08, 2015 | Men's Squash
Two seasons ago, a top-ranked and unbeaten Princeton squad traveled to Cornell and came away with a 5-4 loss, which left the Tigers as Ivy League co-champions with Harvard. On Sunday, needing a win to likely assure itself in the team national championships, the Tigers again fell 5-4.
Princeton has one match left against top-ranked Trinity next Saturday; barring a shocker over the Bantams, the Tigers' fate will likely be in the hands of the rankings committee now.
The Tigers got the start they absolutely needed, pulling out a pair of five-game wins during the opening shift to grab a 2-1 lead. Junior Michael LeBlanc bounced back from a loss in the fourth game to claim an 11-4 win in the fifth to win 3-2 at No. 6.
At the same time, sophomore Ben Leizman saw his 2-0 lead evaporate at the No. 9 spot against Augie Jones. Leizman battled deep into the fifth game and held off Jones for an 11-9 victory.
Princeton picked up two more wins in the middle shift, starting with another dominant performance from senior All-America Tyler Osborne, who dropped only 14 points in his win at the No. 2 position.
Freshman Abhimanyu Shah, who has proven to be a clutch player in several tough matches, lived up to the moment once again. After dropping the opening game at No. 8, he won three tight games over Ian Rothweiler, including a 14-12 decision to clinch the match in four games.
Cornell stayed alive with victories in each of the first two shifts, and then it caught fire in the final one to take the match. Senior Aditiya Jagtap overcame an early deficit to win 3-1 at No. 1, and teammate Gustav Runersio did the same in his win at No. 4.
That squared the match at 4-4, and Cornell's Jordan Brail scored a critical 13-11 win in the second game of his match at No. 7 to take all the momentum in a 3-0 win over Sam Ezratty.
Princeton will conclude its regular season and honor its Class of 2015 Saturday afternoon in a showdown with Trinity.
CORNELL 5, PRINCETON 4
1 – Aditiya Jagtap (C) d. Samuel Kang (9), 3, 5, 7
2 – Tyler Osborne (P) d. Sebastian Obieta-Chichizola 4, 5, 5
3 – Harry Freeman (C) d. David Hoffman (1), 3, 9, 6
4 – Gustav Runersjo (C) d. Jarryd Osborne (3), 5, 7, 3
5 – Graham Dietz (C) d. Taylor Tutrone 7, 6, 5
6 – Michael LeBlanc (P) d. Kevin Flannery 8, (5), 9, (7), 4
7 – Jordan Brail (C) d. Sam Ezratty 7, 11, 2
8 – Abhimanyu Shah (P) d. Ian Rothweiler (8), 7, 8, 12
9 – Ben Leizman (P) d. Augie Jones 6, 7, (8), (9), 9