Hawthorn Cup Champions!
The Lafayette Squash team soared to new heights on Sunday morning, defeating Notre Dame in convincing fashion by a match score of 9-0 to take the Hawthorn Cup Championship. The Leopards finished first in their bracket, knocking off the Fighting Irish who were the only other undefeated team in the Hawthorn division. All players seemed to put everything together on this last day of the season, with seven out of their nine players refusing to drop even a game. Among the Lafayette players that won 3-0 in the Hawthorn Cup Championship match include Carter Rufe, Mark Botini, team Captain Reed Edwards, Lexy Pierce, Aung Lin, Frank Dalicandro and Holden Ranz. This was Dalicandro’s first win of the Tournament weekend at the number 7 spot. Lafayette’s Amar Gujral played very tough at the number 8 position, edging his opponent in 5 games after being down 1-0 to start. However, the match of the day award went to Lafayette’s number 1 player Chip Culp, who rallied from being down 2-0 to win 3 straight games to finish off a perfect match and cap the season with a strong 9-0 Championship victory.
This National Tournament victory is a great step for this young Lafayette squad, who is graduating only 2 seniors in the top nine in team Captain Reed Edwards and Amar Gujral. The team looks to build off of this Hawthorn Cup Championship and advance to an even higher bracket at next year’s National Tournament, but for now will enjoy what has been a milestone 2008-2009 season.
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