Jan. 11, 2010
Complete Results
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - In the first of six matches it will play this week, the 14th-ranked Navy squash team kicked things off with a 9-0 victory over No. 21 Hamilton Monday evening at the Halsey Field House International Squash Courts in Annapolis. The match marked the Mids' first match in exactly a month after taking time off to focus on final exams and enjoy the holiday season.
"While we won 9-0, it was a well-played and hard-fought match by our midshipmen. Hamilton's team is really a class act and the sportsmanship it displays is probably the best we will face all year," said 10th-year head coach Craig Dawson, whose team was preparing for Penn, but a scheduling conflict moved the later-scheduled match against Hamilton up to Monday.
"I do think playing this match will better prepare us for the Penn match in terms of focus and getting some of errors out of our system from having been off for the last month."
The Mids looked anything but rusty, as seven of the nine matches were won in three-game sweeps. Navy senior Nils Mattsson (Spring House, Pa.), ranked 29th in the country, dropped his opening game to James Hogan, 11-9. But Mattsson's frustration fueled his desire to win the match, as he nearly blanked Hogan in the second game, 11-1, and earned an 11-3 win in the third. Mattsson sealed the win in the fourth by edging his foe, 11-9.
Senior Ben Mantica (Binghamton, N.Y.) earned a 3-0 victory over Mario Magana, as both he and Mattsson moved a step closer to the all-time wins mark under Dawson, claiming their 77th win.
Senior Justin Langan (St. Louis, Mo.) cruised to an 11-3, 11-3, 11-6 triumph over sophomore Cooper Veysey at the No. 3 slot, while Brad Seidel (Toledo, Ohio) earned a 3-0 win against Alex Wood at No. 4.
After sitting out since late November with a serious ankle injury, junior Allan Lutz (McLean, Va.) made his way back to the courts against the Continentals. He garnered an 11-5, 11-3, 11-5 win over junior Hal Lee.
The final four positions on the ladder were occupied by rookies and all four came through for the Mids, including John Richey (West Hartford, Conn.), who needed an extra game to win the match. After earning a win in game one, fellow freshman Ronald German knotted the match behind an 11-9 win. But, Richey would outlast his Hamilton counterpart by taking games three and four, 11-4 and 11-9, respectively.
On the year, Navy's freshman quartet owns a 43-15 record (.741) anchored by Richey and Hunter Bouchard's (Greenville, Del.) 13-4 records.
The Mids will be back in action on Wednesday when they play host to eighth-ranked Penn beginning at 6:00 pm. The Quakers own a 40-27 series advantage, including wins in each of the last eight meetings. The last time Navy defeated Penn was in 2001 when the Mids earned a 6-3 win in Philly. Navy's last win over Penn in Annapolis went down to the wire, as the Mids battled to a 5-4 win on Jan. 19, 200.
Jan. 11, 2009 • Navy 9, Hamilton 0
1. Nils Mattsson (N) def. James Hogan (H) 9-11, 11-1, 11-3, 11-9
2. Ben Mantica (N) def. Mario Magana (H) 11-6, 11-5, 11-9
3. Justin Langan (N) def. Cooper Veysey (H) 11-3, 11-3, 11-6
4. Brad Seidel (N) def. Alex Wood (H) 11-5, 11-7, 11-7
5. Allan Lutz (N) def. Hal Lee (H) 11-5, 11-3, 11-5
6. Billy Abrams (N) def. Harry Keeshan (H) 11-8, 11-1, 11-8
7. Hunter Bouchard (N) def. Timothy Gray (H) 11-8, 11-4, 11-4
8. John Richey (N) def. Ronald German (H) 11-8, 9-11, 11-4, 11-9
9. David Koenig (N) def. George Whiteley (H) 11-3, 11-2, 11-4
### Go Navy ###
