From Head Coach Mark Allen - On the Men's and Women's Performances
"Both teams had a very good fall semester, but it's been 35 days since the Cornell match, and that feels like an age, so you are to some degree, starting all over again. So, I never quite know what to expect in the second 'first match', and while we had five days of practice with both teams this week, today's performance for each individual player is to a large degree a reflection of how they chose to spend their own personal time over the holiday period. That's something that I think historically the majority of our players have not done a good job with, but watching the team play today, it is something that most of them are getting better at.
"Princeton men are a team that we have always struggled against. We have played them over 10 times and prior to today, only had one team victory, and the last two seasons they've totally dominated us, beating us 8-1 in 2025 and 7-2 in 2024. So, jumping out today to a 4-0 head start, and converting to a final score of 7-2, was an excellent result for the men, and it's clear they've come in after the break ready and capable of picking up exactly where they left off in the fall semester. Juan Torres, Ewan Harris, Krishna Mishra and Dylan Moran were clinical today, with all four playing a level of squash that could see them beat anyone in the league in their equivalent position on the line-up. The key for the men now will be to keep working just as hard and avoiding any complacency between now and March 5th.
"The women have never beaten Princeton before - they remain one of only three women's teams in the league that we haven't yet beaten (Harvard & Trinity being the other two). And this year's Princeton team is particularly good and will undoubtedly challenge for the CSA Team title in just under two months. There was plenty of fight from the girls today, though, and we were close to putting a couple of points on the board, with Maryam and Clare just losing out in close five-game matches. It's no coincidence that two of the very fittest girls on the team got the closest to winning their matches. This group of women do everything that their coaches ask of them - they 'leaned-in' and embraced every one of the tough training sessions that we put them through in September and October - training sessions that got them in such great physical condition for November's matches. I know they are going to work their socks off over the next few weeks to get back up to that same level of fitness so they can challenge the very best teams in the league in this championship half of the season."
