Women’s Squash Rolls Past Trinity Before Falling to Princeton in CSA National Team Tournament Semifinals

Led by captain Saran Nghiem, who was named the 2026 CSA Betty Richey Award winner, the No. 4 Harvard women’s squash team reached the semifinals of the CSA National Tournament for the 16th time in 17 seasons.

The Crimson opened the weekend with a dominant quarterfinal victory over Trinity before falling to the top-seeded Princeton in the semifinal round of the Howe Cup draw. After dispatching Trinity 8-1 in commanding fashion, the Crimson earned a second meeting this season with the Tigers, this time with a berth in the National Championship Match on the line.

Quarterfinal: Harvard 8, Trinity 1

Harvard began its pursuit of a national title against out-of-conference rival Trinity, a team it had already defeated once during its 2025-26 season. The fourth-seeded Crimson wasted little time taking control.

The first wave could hardly have gone better for Harvard, which raced out to a 3-0 lead. At the three spot, Nghiem posted the first result of the afternoon with a clinical 3-0 sweep over senior Kara Lincou. At fives, freshman Ona Blasco Puig followed with another straight-games victory, though her third game required late poise as she edged out a 13-11 win to close the match. The drama of the opening wave came at nines, where senior Molly Stoltz delivered the most thrilling comeback of the match. After dropping the first two games 7-11 and 8-11, the Crimson senior refused to fold. She clawed her way back with identical 11-7 wins in the third and fourth games before sealing the comeback with an 11-6 victory in the fifth. Instead of a competitive opening stretch, Trinity suddenly found itself in a 3-0 hole.

The Crimson kept its foot on the gas in the second wave. Junior Lucie Stefanoni set the tone with a 3-0 win at twos, overwhelming her opponent by a combined 33-18 margin. Then came freshman Dixon Hill, who continued what has been a flawless individual campaign. Playing at sixes, the rookie survived a 14-12 tiebreak in the first game and never let the momentum slip, taking the next two games 11-9 and 11-9 to complete another 3-0 sweep. Hill’s victory clinched the match for her team, sending Harvard to the semifinal round. Trinity salvaged its lone point of the afternoon at sevens, where senior Fabiola Cabello defeated Crimson freshman Jomana Ahmed in four games. By then, though, the match’s overall victor had already been determined.

The final wave only added to Harvard’s dominance. Sophomore Ocean Ma cruised to a 3-0 victory at fours and punctuated her performance with an emphatic 11-0 shutout in the third game. At the top of the ladder, sophomore Caroline Fouts authored one of the most lopsided wins of the day, defeating freshman Thanusaa Uthrian in straight games while outscoring her foe 33-14. Sophomore Sarita Popat then closed out the contest with yet another 3-0 win, spurring Harvard to an emphatic 8-1 result.

Seven of the Crimson’s eight points came via 3-0 sweeps. The lone exception was Stoltz’s five-game comeback, which helped set the tone for a quarterfinal that Harvard controlled from start to finish.

Semifinal: Princeton 6, Harvard 3

The semifinal round brought a much tougher challenge. Harvard met the first-seeded Princeton for the second time this season, with a trip to the Howe Cup Championship Match at stake.

The Tigers seized an early edge in the first wave, winning at twos and eights to take a 2-1 lead. The Crimson’s lone point in that stretch came from Hill, whose remarkable season continued with another straight-game win. Competing sixth in Harvard’s ladder, Hill defeated sophomore Caroline Eielson 3-0, extending her perfect season record to 13-0 and once again giving the Crimson a reliable point in the middle of the ladder.

The most painful match of the first wave came at the eighth spot. Popat appeared poised to level the overall score after taking the first two games, 11-9 and 11-8. But Princeton’s sophomore Hermione Cao mounted a comeback, taking the next three games to steal the match in five. What could have been a Harvard response instead became part of the Tigers’ early advantage.

The Crimson briefly steadied itself in the second wave. Ma delivered a strong 3-1 win at fours, tying the team score at 2-2 and giving Harvard real hope of turning the semifinal into a toss-up.

However, Princeton answered immediately, taking the matches at ones and nines to build a 4-2 cushion heading into the final wave. At the top position, Fouts battled junior Zeina Zein in one of the day’s marquee matchups. Fouts took the first game 11-6 and later forced a fifth with an 11-7 fourth-game win, but Zein ultimately escaped with the victory. At nines, Stoltz took the opening game against junior Sonya Sasson and pushed both the third and fourth games to the limit, but the Tiger pulled through in four.

That left Harvard needing a perfect final wave to keep its season alive. Instead, Princeton shut the door. The Tigers clinched the semifinal with wins at fives and sevens, securing the overall match before the final result was even posted.

Nghiem did provide one final bright spot for the Crimson. Playing at the third spot, the captain earned a 3-1 victory over junior Emma Trauber, finishing her afternoon the same way Harvard’s weekend had begun, with a composed, high-level performance on a major stage.

Though the final score read 6-3, several matches were tighter than that margin suggests. Popat’s reverse at eights, Fouts’s five-game battle at ones, and Stefanoni’s narrow four-game loss at twos all underscored how close Harvard was to upsetting the No. 1-ranked Princeton. Instead, the Tigers proved to be slightly steadier and advanced to the championship match, where they eventually fell to Penn.

Nghiem Caps Career With Betty Richey Award

Even with the team’s run ending in the semifinal round, the weekend served as a celebration of one of the most accomplished careers in Harvard women’s squash history.

Before the tournament, Nghiem was named the recipient of the Betty Richey Award. The award is presented annually to the senior student-athlete who best exemplifies the ideals of squash, including excellence in play, leadership, sportsmanship, fairness, and devotion to the game. Nghiem’s résumé leaves little doubt as to why she was selected. Over her four seasons on the Crimson team, she compiled a 40-9 career record while splitting time across the top three spots on the ladder. Nghiem earned All-Ivy recognition in each of her four years, landed on the first team three times, and was named a First Team All-American in each of her first three seasons. In 2025, she also received CSA Scholar-Athlete honors.

Nghiem’s signature achievement came at the 2024 CSA Individual National Championships, where she captured the Ramsay Cup and became the individual National Champion. In that run, she defeated two-time national champion Zein in the semifinals before rallying from two games down to defeat her own teammate, Marina Stefanoni ’24, in a thrilling five-game championship match. Nghiem is now the eighth Crimson player to win the Betty Richey Award, and her honor continues a remarkable recent tradition for the program. She joins Georgina Kennedy in 2020, Hana Moataz in 2022, and Marina Stefanoni in 2024 as Harvard players to claim the award this decade.

The Crimson’s weekend in Philadelphia ultimately ended a win shy of the Howe Cup Championship Match. Still, Harvard once again reached the national semifinal stage, handled Trinity with authority in the quarterfinal round, and saw its captain receive the sport’s most prestigious individual honor. For a program that has made deep March runs feel routine, this year’s finish was not the one the Crimson wanted, but it still reflected the standard that Harvard continues to uphold.

With several freshmen and sophomores playing key roles throughout the tournament, the Crimson appear well-positioned to remain among the nation’s top programs in the seasons ahead.