Author: rufec

The Lafayette Club Squash team concluded another successful season and trip to the CSA National Championship. The team came into the tournament looking to repeat as Hawthorn Cup champions. This year’s tournament was held at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. In our opening match we played against Fordham University.
The match proved to be an epic battle against two determined teams. Will Giammattei and CJ Horning came through with some vital early victories for the Leopards in the 8 and 9 spot, respectively. Mark Bottini won a thrilling 5-game match by defeating Fordham’s number 3 player 11-9 in the fifth game. Lafayette Squash Club team’s president Carter Rufe overcame a shoulder injury which had him sidelined for most of the season to defeat Fordham’s number 2 handily in 3 games. Frank Dalicandro in the number 4 spot for Lafayette lost a very tight and well fought match in the fifth game 11-9. With the match 4-3 in favor of Lafayette after tough losses from Senior Aung Lin at the number 5 spot and Junior Rob Elliot at the number 7 spot, senior Lexy Pierce after being down two games to zero showed her resilience to battle her way back to win games three and four. The fifth game was a thriller with both players fighting off match points against them but it inevitably ended with Fordham’s number 6 defeating Lexy 16-14. The deciding match came down to Lafayette number 1 Chip Culp who easily defeated Fordham’s number 1 in 3 games to clinch the match for Lafayette in the opening round of the CSA national championship Hawthorn bracket.
The semifinals saw Lafayette taking on the number 1 seed in the bracket the University of Vermont. After a thrilling victory over Fordham University, the Leopards carried their momentum into the next match by dominating the Catamounts with a decisive 8-1 victory. The leopards were now just one victory away from retaining the Hawthorn Cup.
The finals saw Lafayette taking on Bryant University. Bryant University came out with a ton of energy looking to avenge their loss to Lafayette at last year’s national tournament. It was very close early with Bryant taking an early 2-1 lead against Lafayette. But then Lafayette’s number 3 Mark Bottini overcame a tough Bryant University competitor to win his match in 5-games to change up the momentum in favor of Lafayette. Key wins from Carter Rufe and Chip Culp in decisive fashion put the Hawthorn Cup well within reach for Lafayette. The Leopards were able to gain the necessary victories from the middle of the line-up to secure a 6-3 victory for Lafayette and allow us to defend our title of Hawthorn Cup Champions!!!

Lafayette captured its second straight Hawthorn Cup Championship on February 23rd, edging Bryant University 6-3 it what was a thrilling match.