Feb. 8, 2013

ANNAPOLIS, Md. —  The 14th-ranked Navy squash team will play host to No. 7 Franklin & Marshall in its regular-season finale Sunday afternoon at the Halsey Field House International Squash Courts.  Action is slated for 3:00 pm.

The Mids are looking to bounce back after dropping a 9-0 decision to ninth-ranked St. Lawrence on the road a week ago.  However, Sunday’s competition will be even more of a challenge with the Diplomats having won 10 consecutive matches going into the weekend.  Franklin & Marshall, who owns a 14-3 record and has beaten top 10 programs St. Lawrence (6-3), Dartmouth (5-4) and Williams (8-1), will battle George Washington Friday night in Washington D.C. and fifth-ranked Cornell Saturday evening at home before traveling to Annapolis for Sunday’s match.

Five of the nine players on the ladder have eclipsed the 20-win milestone this winter, while freshmen Bill Kacergis (Malvern, Pa.) and Mitch Bottini (New Hamburg, N.Y.) are battling to become the winningest players in a single season under head coach Craig Dawson’s watch.  Kacergis and Bottini have identical 25-4 records as the No. 7 and 8 players, respectively, which is tied as the seventh-most wins in a single season.  Jeff Sawin put together a 28-4 mark in 2006-07 to set the record, while Allan Lutz turned in a 27-9 record in 2008-09.  Four players have tallied 26 wins, including current Navy seniors John Richey (West Harford, Conn.) and Hunter Bouchard (Greenville, Del.) who both recorded 26-7 marks in 2009-10.

Speaking of Richey and Bouchard, both have enjoyed solid senior campaigns with Bouchard tallying a 22-5 mark as the Mids’ No. 3 player while Richey owns a 21-8 record at No. 6.  Richey has put together an 89-30 record over four seasons and his next win would make him just the third player in program history to reach 90-career wins.  Meanwhile, Bouchard is 88-30 for his career.

Fellow senior Cotter Walker (Orlando, Fla.) enters the weekend with a 22-4 career record, earning a permanent spot among the varsity ladder this season.  He has put together a 17-4 record this season.

Meanwhile, the Mids’ No. 1 player on the ladder, sophomore Andrew McGuinness, has tallied a 22-7 record this winter including a 7-7 mark as the top player in the lineup.

Navy owns a 33-18 series advantage, including a 23-4 mark in matches played in Annapolis.  The Diplomats, however, have won five in a row against the Mids with Navy’s last win in the series coming on Feb. 9, 2008.  The last time the Mids beat F&M in Annapolis was Feb. 17, 2007, by a 6-3 decision.

Following Sunday’s regular-season finale, the Mids will have nearly two weeks to prepare for the College Squash Association Championship which will be held Feb. 22-24 in New Haven, Conn.


### Go Navy ###