Princeton Claims First Women's Squash Title Since 2009

Courtesy of Princeton Athletic Communications

PRINCETON, N.J. -- The Princeton women's squash team entered the 2012-13 Ivy League season believing it could be a factor in the race. Sunday's 9-0 victory over Columbia on Senior Day left that team as far more than a factor on the league's final day. For the sixth time in team history, Princeton is the Ivy League champion.

A season filled with dramatic wins, ranging from 5-4 victories over both Harvard and Yale to a dramatic 9-0 midweek sweep of third-ranked Penn, concluded with a dominant showing over a young Columbia squad, which could field only eight players in the match. The Tigers won all 24 individual games en route to a perfect Sunday afternoon.

The culmination of both the match and the impressive consistency of the 2012-13 Tigers came when the team got to celebrate on court as Ivy champion for the first time since 2009. That season, Princeton also won a Howe Cup national team championship one week later; this squad will have that same opportunity when it heads to Yale next weekend as the top seed for the 2013 team championships.

Sunday was also Senior Day for the Princeton Class of 2013 (Julie Cerullo, Casey Cortes, Alice Fuller, Katherine Schloss); Cerullo, who has played at or near the top of the Princeton lineup throughout her career, was able to finally hoist the Ivy crown after years of near misses.

She also won her final home match, topping Reyna Pacheco 11-5, 11-4, 11-3 for a victorious farewell to the Jadwin Squash Courts. The rest of her teammates were equally impressive, including freshman Tara Harrington, who dropped only six points in a 3-0 win at No. 8.