George Washington University
CSA Team Nationals
Men's Squash Finishes Nationals Ranked #23 in Nation
2/25/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Squash
Feb. 24, 2009
PRINCETON, NJ - The 11 man GW team traveled to Princeton to play in the College Squash Nationals over February 20-22.
They went into the tournament as the #23 seed and ended just as they entered with a win over Northeastern (#24) losses to higher seeded (#18) Bowdoin College and (#19) Hamilton College.
The team was hoping claim an upset over a higher ranked team but 2nd year coach, Wendy Lawrence felt that some players were "not firing on all cylinders this weekend" against Bowdoin and Hamilton". "It was hard for us to get everyone to peak this weekend, but we are thrilled to end our season ranked a strong #23 (up from #26 last season) with a strong record of 17 wins, 10 losses."
The Nationals marked the final college match for senior captain, and four year varsity player, Brad Birenbaum, who capped his college career with a win over Northeastern on Sunday. Birenbaum was one of the select college players awarded the prestigious College Squash Association "Scholar Athlete Award for 2008-2009" which is given to a student-athlete in "recognition of accomplishments on the squash court and in the classroom".
GW senior Jeff DeSousa, who joined the team only this year, also played his final college match on Sunday.
The team will lose three players next year , two to graduation and #3 Matt Nelson- Teutsch who will be taking the year off from GW to travel to Africa.
