Jan. 12, 2008

Complete Results

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Back in action after a month lay-off for final exams and the holidays, the 10th-ranked Navy squash team dropped a tough 7-2 decision to No. 9 Penn Saturday afternoon at the Halsey Field House International Squash Courts. The Quakers have now won six in a row against the Midshipmen dating back to 2001.

"Today's loss was a tough one," said Navy head coach Craig Dawson. "We had a great crowd, including an especially vocal group of Midshipmen which really helped. We lost a couple of heartbreakers, but we will continue to work on our game this week and get ready for next week's matches."

Navy looked to have the early advantage, winning two of the top three spots on the ladder. Leading the was senior Tucker George (West Hartford, Conn.), who came back from a 3-9 loss in the opening game to post 9-5, 9-4 and 9-5 wins to take the match over Penn All-American Lee Rosen at the No. 1 position. George has won all nine of his matches this season. Additionally, the Mids received a strong performance by their captain, senior Jeff Sawin (Haverford, Pa.), who improved to 8-1 on the year after breezing his way to a 9-3, 9-7, 9-4 win over senior Spencer Kurn.

The match could have swung the other direction had Navy been able to pull out a pair of matches that were decided in five games and went the Quakers' direction. Navy's No. 2 player Nils Mattsson (Spring House, Pa.) traded wins with second-year Penn standout Mark Froot with Mattsson winning the fourth, 9-3, to send the match into a fifth game. But it was Froot who was able to outlast Mattsson and take the match in the fifth, 9-5, as Mattsson suffered his first loss of the 2007-08 campaign (9-1).

Meanwhile, Navy sophomore Ben Mantica (Binghamton, N.Y.) found himself in the same position at the No. 5 flight, where he won games two and four to force a deciding game against Penn rookie Porter Drake. Mantica suffered a final blow when Drake produced a 9-1 victory in the fifth.

The Midshipmen will be back in action next weekend when they travel to New Haven, Conn. to play in a three-day round robin at Yale. Navy will battle Bowdoin on Friday (5:00 pm), MIT (10:00 am) and Bates (4:00 pm) on Saturday and Colby (9:00 am) on Sunday.

Penn def. Navy, 7-2Jan. 12, 2008 • Annapolis, Md.1   Tucker George (N) def. Lee Rosen (P)           3-1   3-9, 9-5, 9-4, 9-52   Mark Froot (P) def. Nils Mattsson (N)          3-2   9-3, 0-9, 9-2, 3-9, 9-53   Jeff Sawin (N) def. Spencer Kurn (P)           3-0   9-3, 9-7, 9-44   James Clark (P) def. Allan Lutz (N)            3-0   10-8, 9-3, 9-75   Porter Drake (P) def. Ben Mantica (N)          3-2   9-4, 3-9, 9-1, 6-9, 9-16   Joey Raho (P) def.Christopher Zipf (N)         3-1   9-3, 9-1, 3-9, 9-47   Andrew Zimmerman (P) def. Brian Hamilton (N)   3-0   9-3, 9-5, 9-58   Parker Justin (P) def. Brad Seidel (N)         3-0   9-7, 9-0, 10-89   Ryan Rayfield (P) def. Allen Hartley (N)       3-0   9-3, 9-4, 9-5