LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. - The Haverford College women's squash team advanced to the E Division title match with a pair of wins on Saturday at the 2014 College Squash Association Team Championships. The Fords swept past the University of Minnesota, 9-0, in quarterfinal action before taking down New York University (NYU), 7-2, in the semifinals.
Haverford (8-10) tied the program record for wins in a season established by the 2004-05 squad with the semifinal victory over 37th-ranked NYU (3-6).
All seven victories against the Violets came in the minimum three games. Sophomore Ava Lichauco surrendered just six points in her quick win (11-2, 11-4, 11-0) at No. 9 while senior Caroline Nightingale was just as impressive with an 11-2, 11-2, 11-3 victory over Michelle Yhantovsky at No. 1.
Bethany Simmonds at No. 2, Alex Love at No. 3, Isabel Agnew at No. 5, Samara Flug at No. 6 and Rachael Garnick at No. 8 accounted for the 33rd-ranked Fords' other points against NYU.
Haverford's first contest of the day saw the Fords sweep past 40th-ranked Minnesota (7-5). The Gophers had advanced to the quarterfinals with an 8-1 victory over the University of California Berkeley but the Golden Bears were no match for Haverford.
The Fords entered the weekend seeded first in the E Division and they showed it with a dominating performance against California. Seven of Haverford's nine victories came by way of 3-0 scores. Love gave up just five points to Paige Carlson in an 11-1, 11-2, 11-2 victory at No. 3 while Nightingale and and Emily Berlin surrendered just nine points in wins at No. 1 and No. 9, respectively.
The Fords, the defending champions of the E Division, move on to face 35th-ranked Colgate University (4-7) at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday. The Raiders got past Northeastern, 5-4, in Saturday's other semifinal.