#12 Diplomats Down #13 Bates at College Squash Association Hoehn Division Tournament

by Sports Information
2/17/06

PRINCETON, NJ – #12 Franklin & Marshall College used victories at #2, 5, 7, 8 and 9 to defeat #13 Bates College 5-4 in men’s squash at the 2006 College Squash Association Hoehn Division National Championship Tournament hosted by Princeton University.

The Hoehn Division, which encompasses the #9-16 teams in the nation, is composed of #9 Cornell University, #10 Brown University, #11 Amherst College, #12 F&M, #13 Bates, #14 Bowdoin College, #15 Navy and #16 Tufts with the stop team in the tournament earning the #9 ranking in the nation.

Against Bates, the Diplomats captured the match due to their strength at the bottom of the lineup as Patrick Pasquariello (Fr., Gladwyne, PA/Episcopal Academy) rallied back from near defeat to down Marc Taggart 3-2 (4-9, 4-9, 9-4, 9-5, 9-7) at #7. At #8, Shane Slater (Fr., St. Vincent & the Grenadines/St. Vincent School) jumped out to a 2-1 lead and held off a rally by Charlie Johnson to notch a 3-2 victory (5-9, 9-5, 9-6, 8-10, 9-7) before Evan Burton (Sr., Atlanta, GA/Cranbrook Kingswood) dominated Guillermo Moronta 3-0 (9-2, 9-4, 9-3) at #9.

Satyajit Seshadri (Jr., Chennai, India/Gill Adarsh) defeated Sean Wilkinson 3-1 (10-8, 9-7, 0-9, 9-6) at #2 and Ed Bryan (Sr., Katonah, NY/Choate Rosemary) stopped Pete Goldsborough 3-1 (10-9, 9-6, 6-9, 9-5) at #5 to round out the Diplomats’ victors.

The victory avenges a 9-0 loss to Bates in the consolation round at the 2005 CSA Championships hosted by Harvard University and improves F&M to 2-0 against Bates this year as the Diplomats previously won 6-3 on January 21 in a neutral site match at Yale University.

Overall, the Diplomats improved to 14-7 on the year and 10-2 in their last 12 matches as Franklin & Marshall previously defeated St. Lawrence University (9-0 W), Connecticut College (9-0 W), Bates College (6-3 W), Bowdoin College (6-3 W), Haverford College (9-0 W), Tufts College (7-2 W), Hamilton College (9-0 W), Colgate University (9-0 W) and Navy (6-3 W).

The Diplomats will continue the tournament on February 18 versus Cornell, which defeated Tufts 9-0. The match will mark the second time the Big Red and Diplomats have met this year as Cornell knocked off Franklin & Marshall 9-0 on February 4.

Match time is set for noon at the Lawrenceville School.

Franklin & Marshall 5, Bates 4
1. Ricky Weisskoph (B) def. Rushabh Vora (F&M), 3-2 (3-9, 7-9, 9-0, 9-3, 9-1)
2. Satyajit Seshadri (F&M) def. Sean Wilkinson (B), 3-1 (10-8, 9-7, 0-9, 9-6)
3. Gary Kan (B) def. Jehangir Aibara (F&M), 3-1 (9-5, 3-9, 9-1, 9-5)
4. Jamie White (B) def. Ry Hawley (F&M), 3-1 (8-10, 9-1, 9-0, 10-8)
5. Ed Bryan (F&M) def. Pete Goldsborough (B), 3-1 (10-9, 9-6, 6-9, 9-5)
6. Chip Russell (B) def. Seth Cruice (F&M), 3-0 (9-6, 9-3, 9-1)
7. Patrick Pasquariello (F&M) def. Marc Taggart (B), 3-2 (4-9, 4-9, 9-4, 9-5, 9-7)
8. Shane Slater (F&M) def. Charlie Johnson (B), 3-2 (5-9, 9-5, 9-6, 8-10, 9-7)
9. Evan Burton (F&M) def. Guillermo Moronta (B), 3-0 (9-2, 9-4, 9-3)