Don't call it a comeback...

During a lull in Wednesday's match, with the women’s squash team down 4-0, I was walking around the viewing area and managed to make eye contact with coach Jack Wyant.

He looked at me and asked, “Did you count us out?”

I answered “no,” as any dutiful reporter would do, but in my mind, I was figuring out if there was any way to put a positive spin on what was looking to be a devastating loss for the program.

Looking back, I probably should have counted them out. I should have counted them out before the match, when they were going against the defending national champions and top-ranked team in a sport where upsets are nearly non-existent. I should have counted them out when they were losing 3-0 after the first cycle and 4-0 shortly thereafter, when members of the team were sulking away from the courts and being dominated on them.

Even after the comeback started, I should have counted them out with junior Tara Chawla, already down two games to one, losing 6-4 to Princeton’s Emery Maine in the fourth game. I could even have counted them out after Chawla lost the serve and first point of the tiebreaking game.

Quite frankly, though, it doesn’t matter what I thought, because the team never counted themselves out.

“If we’re going to win 5-4 or 6-3, those losses have to come at some point,” Chawla said. “They just happened to come in the beginning this match.”

On a team with only one freshman, true unity and chemistry can lead to absolute faith in each other to win under even the most adverse situations.

“This team spends so much time together,” senior co-captain Lauralynn Drury said. “We can’t help but be confident in the girls we train with.”

In the end, it is that confidence that allowed the Red and Blue to come back and truly earn that victory over Princeton. It is also that attitude which could make the intangible difference between last year’s 4th-place Howe Cup finish and the unlimited potential of this year’s squad.

--Neil Fanaroff