Women's Squash
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- ramsay@princeton.edu
- Phone:
- 609-258-5089
| QUICK FACTS ON GAIL RAMSAY |
| • has led Princeton to five Howe Cup titles (1998, 1999, 2007, 2008, 2009) |
| • has led Princeton to four Ivy League titles (1998, 2007, 2009, 2013) |
| • has coached five individual champions (Katherine Johnson, 1997; Julia Beaver, 1999-2001; Zeina Zein, 2025) |
| • has more than 300 team wins in her Princeton career |
| • won the individual national title all four years of her collegiate career (Penn State) |
| • inducted into the CSA Hall of Fame as a player in 1995 and the US Squash Hall of Fame in 2022 |
| • awarded the Achievement Bowl during Women in Sports Day at the 2017 U.S. Open |
| • helped the 2018 Princeton women achieve a #1 ranking during the season |
Gail Ramsay, who is in her 32nd year as Princeton's head coach in 2025-26, understands what it takes to be a champion. She is not only the first women’s player to ever win four national individual championships while an undergraduate at Penn State but has also led Princeton to five Howe Cup team national titles, as well as four Ivy League championships.
Of course, that doesn't mean Ramsay is about to rest on her laurels; Princeton has finished in the top five in the nation every year that the CSA national championship has been held since 2004. In 2025, Ramsay guided a player to the Ramsay Cup individual national title for the fifth time, with Zeina Zein winning the title in five consecutive sweeps, taking the crown at Grand Central Station in New York.
Most recently with Zein in 2024, Princeton won six of the 10 Ivy League Rookie of the Year awards from 2014-24, a run that began with Maria Elena Ubina in 2014 and continued with Olivia Fiechter (2015), Raneem El Torky (2018), Hiu Ham Lui (2019), Caroline Spahr (2020) and Zein.
In 2013, Ramsay helped a lineup that included only one senior starter to an undefeated regular season and the program's sixth Ivy League title. In 2015, Princeton led the nation with five All-Americas, including three first-team honorees. The Tigers had three CSA quarterfinalists and two semifinalists, including Nicole Bunyan, who reached the final four as the 11th seed. In 2018, Princeton reached the overall #1 ranking in the nation following a thrilling 5-4 comeback win over Trinity at Jadwin.
An incredible three-year championship run began in the 2006-07 season and was as memorable as any, especially for one magical week at the end of January. Ranked fifth at the time, Princeton knocked off the Nos. 1 (Penn), 2 (Yale) and 3 (Trinity) teams in the nation to claim the top spot in the poll. The Tigers made sure to never leave that spot. It was a different run to the top in 2008, but it was no less satisfying at the end. Princeton began the season as No. 1, but fell twice during the season and entered the Howe Cup, held at Princeton’s own Jadwin Squash Courts, as the second seed. The Tigers reached the finals, where it trailed top-seeded Penn 2-1 after one round, but Ramsay guided the home team to a 6-3 victory and a second straight national crown.
Perhaps no season was as dramatic or rewarding as the 2008-09 season, when Princeton won its third straight Howe Cup championship and its second Ivy League title in three seasons. Princeton went undefeated again, but needed a 3-2 comeback win from All-America Neha Kumar in the regular season finale to defeat Harvard 5-4 and win the Ivy League title. At the Howe Cup championships, Princeton won back-to-back nailbiters to win the title; in the semifinal, Kaitlin Sennatt fought off a match ball for a 10-9 win in the fifth game to send the Tigers to a 5-4 win over Trinity. In the final, both All-America standout Amanda Siebert and Nikki Sequeira recorded 3-2 comeback wins to send Princeton past Harvard by another 5-4 score.
Ramsay, who has served as the president of the Women's College Squash Association, will enter her 32nd year as the head coach of women’s squash at Princeton with an outstanding 311-90 career record. Besides her team success, and with Zein as the most recent addition, Ramsay has coached the individual national champion five times (Katherine Johnson in 1997; Julia Beaver in 1999, 2000 and 2001, and Zein in 2025).
Ramsay, whose teams have annually been among the top Howe Cup challengers, took the Tigers to the 1998 national title and ended Harvard’s five-year run at the event. She also led Princeton to the 1998 Ivy League title, its first since 1991, in a magical undefeated season for the Tigers.
Ramsay is a 1980 graduate of Penn State, where she became the only women’s four-time national intercollegiate individual squash champion. In 2002, the women’s intercollegiate national championship was renamed the Ramsay Cup. Prior to her appointment at Princeton, she had been the head squash and tennis coach at Williams College for six years.
Ramsay was a top-ranked player throughout her playing career, ranking as high as No. 2 in the United States on several occasions. She has also captured two U.S. doubles and seven U.S. mixed doubles titles with her brother Bill.
A two-time member of the U.S. national team, Ramsay captained the 1985 team on its trip through Ireland and also was on the 1983 team’s trip to Australia for the World Championships.
Ramsay has coached at the Heights Casino Club, Uptown Squash Club and NYU, while also playing on the professional circuit.
Ramsay was inducted into the CSA Hall of Fame as a player in 1995 and into the US Squash Hall of Fame in 2022.
| Year | Overall | Ivy | Titles | All Ivy | All American |
| 94-95 | 7-2 | 3-2 | Katherine Johnson, Kiersten Todt, Margaret Van Orman | Katherine Johnson Suzy McDowell Kiersten Todt Margaret Van Orman |
|
| 95-96 | 7-2 | 3-2 | Katherine Johnson, Missy Wyant | Katherine Johnson Missy Wyant |
|
| 96-97 | 8-1 | 5-1 | Katherine Johnson, Elise O'Connell, Missy Wyant | Katherine Johnson Missy Waynt Elise O'Connell |
|
| 97-98 | 9-0 | 6-0 | Ivy/National | Blair Irwin, Katherine Johnson, Elise O'Connell, Missy Wyant | Blair Irwin Katherine Johnson Elise O'Connell Missy Wyant |
| 98-99 | 10-1 | 5-1 | National | Julia Beaver, Blair Irwin, Elise O'Connell, Missy Wyant | Julia Beaver Blair Irwin Elise O'Connell Missy Wyant Meredith Quick |
| 99-00 | 9-1 | 5-1 | Julia Beaver, Elise O'Connell, Meredith Quick | Julia Beaver Blair Irwin Meredith Quick Liz Kelly Elise O'Connell |
|
| 00-01 | 6-4 | 3-3 | Julia Beaver, Blair Irwin, Meredith Quick | Julia Beaver Blair Irwin Meredith Quick Liz Kelly |
|
| 01-02 | 6-4 | 3-3 | Julia Beaver, Meredith Quick | Julia Beaver Meredith Quick Emily Eynon Annie Rein-Weston |
|
| 02-03 | 7-7 | 3-3 | Annie Rein-Weston | Emily Eynon Patricia Gadsden Annie Rein-Weston |
|
| 03-04 | 11-3 | 5-1 | Ruchika Kumar | Ruchika Kumar Patricia Gadsden (H.M.) |
|
| 04-05 | 10-5 | 4-2 | Ali Pearson, Claire Rein-Weston | Ali Pearson Gen Lessard Claire Rein-Weston |
|
| 05-06 | 6-5 | 4-2 | Claire Rein-Weston | Claire Rein-Weston Gen Lessard |
|
| 06-07 | 11-0 | 6-0 | Ivy/National | Claire Rein-Weston | Ali Pearson Claire Rein-Weston Casey Riley |
| 07-08 | 11-2 | 5-1 | National | Neha Kumar, Claire Rein-Weston, Amanda Siebert | Neha Kumar Claire Rein-Weston Ali Pearson Casey Riley Amanda Siebert |
| 08-09 | 13-0 | 6-0 | Ivy/National | Neha Kumar, Amanda Siebert | Neha Kumar Emery Maine Amanda Siebert Jackie Moss |
| 09-10 | 9-5 | 4-2 | Neha Kumar, Emery Maine, Amanda Siebert | Neha Kumar Emery Maine Amanda Siebert |
|
| 10-11 | 11-5 | 3-3 | Julie Cerullo, Jackie Moss | Julie Cerullo Neha Kumar Jackie Moss |
|
| 11-12 | 11-5 | 4-3 | Julie Cerullo, Jackie Moss | Julie Cerullo Libby Eyre Jackie Moss |
|
| 12-13 | 12-2 | 7-0 | Ivy | Julie Cerullo, Libby Eyre | Julie Cerullo Nicole Bunyan Libby Eyre |
| 13-14 | 11-5 | 4-3 | Julie Cerullo, Libby Eyre | Julie Cerullo Libby Eyre |
|
| 14-15 | 12-3 | 5-2 | Libby Eyre, Maria Elena Ubina | Libby Eyre Maria Elena Ubina Nicole Bunyan |
|
| 15-16 | 12-4 | 5-2 | Olivia Fiechter, Maria Elena Ubina, Nicole Bunyan | Nicole Bunyan Olivia Fiechter Maria Elena Ubina Rachel Leizman Alex Lunt |
|
| 16-17 | 12-5 | 5-2 | Olivia Fiechter, Maria Elena Ubina | Olivia Fiechter Maria Elena Ubina |
|
| 17-18 | 15-2 | 6-1 | Olivia Fiechter | Olivia Fiechter |
|
| 18-19 | 14-3 | 6-1 | Olivia Fiechter | Olivia Fiechter Kira Keating |
|
| 19-20 | 14-2 | 6-1 | Hiu Lam Lui, Raneem El Torky | Hiu Lam Lui | |
| 20-21 | - | - | Season canceled (COVID-19) | ||
| 21-22 | 12-3 | 5-1 | Andrea Toth | Andrea Toth Elle Ruggiero |
|
| 22-23 | 11-3 | 5-1 | Andrea Toth Molly Chadwick |
Andrea Toth | |
| 23-24 | 12-3 | 5-1 | Zeina Zein Liyen Teoh Emma Trauber |
Zeina Zein Liyen Teoh Emma Trauber |
|
| 24-25 | 12-3 | 4-2 | Zeina Zein Molly Chadwick Emma Trauber |
Zeina Zein Emma Trauber |
|
| Totals | 311-90 | 150-49 | 4 Ivy/5 National |
