“The Drop”

Issue #7: CSA National Champions

Congrats to the Winners!

It was a busy weekend at the Specter Center in Philadelphia for the CSA College Nationals, with incredible squash played throughout the tournament. Congratulations to the Howe Cup and Potter Cup Champions - the Penn Women’s Team and the Trinity Men’s Team and on outstanding performances.

On the men’s side, Trinity defeated Harvard in the final with a score of 5–3 (with the final match not played). The women’s final between Penn and Princeton delivered one of the most dramatic finishes of the weekend. With the match tied 4–4, the national championship came down to the #9 position. In a clutch performance, Jana Dweek stepped up and secured the decisive win for Penn, sealing the title in front of an electric crowd.

Howe Cup Champions

UPenn Women's Squash

Malak Khafagy, Franka Vidovic, Malak Taha, Sohaila Ismail, Alexandra Stoddard, Ashna Tumuluri, Hailey Wong, Savannah Ingledew, Jana Dweek

Potter Cup Champions

Trinity Men's Squash

Joachim Chuah, Muhammad Ashab Irfan, Benedek Takacs, Low Wa-Sern, Huzaifa Ibrahim, Segundo Portabales, Dmytro Shcherbakov, Daniel Simon, Javier Emilio Romo Lopez

What Team is the "Grittiest"?

How do we define grit? For this analysis, we define grit as a combination of fitness and mental toughness. To measure it, we looked at how teams perform in longer matches, where endurance and resilience tend to matter most. Specifically, we examined each team’s win rate in matches that lasted longer than the tournament’s average match time.

On the men’s side, the average match length this past weekend was 44 minutes. Using that as the benchmark for a “long” match, we analyzed team win rates in matches exceeding that mark. By this measure, Dartmouth emerged as the Grittiest Men’s Team, winning 80% of their matches (8 out of 10) that lasted longer than 44 minutes. At the other end of the spectrum, Williams struggled in extended battles, winning only 1 out of 9 matches (11%) that went beyond 44 minutes.

On the women’s side, the average match length was 33 minutes. Looking at matches longer than that threshold, UVA earned the title of Grittiest Women’s Team, winning 86% of their matches (6 out of 7) that exceeded the average match length. Meanwhile, Amherst had the toughest time in longer contests, winning just 1 of 11 matches above the 33-minute mark (9%).

2026 Grittiest Men's Team

2026 Grittiest Women's Team

Last 10 Years

Despite not winning a national championship since 2023, Harvard’s men’s and women’s programs still lead all schools in total titles over the past decade. In an especially dominant stretch, both the Harvard men’s and women’s teams captured national championships in 2019, 2020, 2022, and 2023.

New Features

We are excited to preview our new features that will soon be released to the public. In the next few weeks, you can expect: 

1. Match Details - In-app overview of key match information, including scoreline, match format, duration, and location. 

2. Match Insights - View point-by-point momentum within a game, along with detailed analytics on match duration, point length, and other key performance metrics.

3. Match Media - View video replays of your matches and/or attach links to your own match footage.