After going 7-8 last season, the Saint Lawrence men’s squash team is expecting to have a bounce-back year. One in which they seek to find themselves back in contention for national titles. Senior team captain, Karim Ibrahim ‘20, spoke of returning the team back to like it was during his sophomore season. “We were competing with some of the top teams in the country such as Harvard, Trinity and UPenn. We definitely have the guys to do it and our team goal is be nationally ranked within the top 8.” He also believes that him and at least two of his teammates can contend for national titles, individually.
Some of the smaller goals the team was looking towards was winning the Liberty League Championship, which they had won five straight times before last year. He said the group is loaded with juniors and seniors who look forward to showing other schools why St. Lawrence is among the best in the country.
For himself, individually, Ibrahim stated that his goals were to get back into his sophomore season form. “I was a first-team All-American that year, and because I studied abroad last fall, I didn’t come back in quite as good shape as I hoped. I look forward to being an All-American again, going undefeated in the process.”
Along with his absence, the team also had to deal with the departure of coach Chris Abplanalp during the middle of last season. The current coach, Scott Denne, replaced him. When asked about the transition, Karim said it was an adjustment. “Every coach has their own style, and Scott and Chris’ ways of training and coaching are very different. Which means that it was an adjustment for us to get used too.”
However, he did discuss just how much faith Denne put in his captains. “He came in mid-season and told us captains that this was our team, because he didn’t want to get in the way of how things were done.” Karim and the other captains gained much respect for Denne because of his willingness to put them on equal footing with him.
When I asked Karim what makes the team unique in his eyes, he called them a family. “Most of us are foreigners in this country. We have many guys from Egypt, as well as England, France, India, other parts of the world and the states as well. And we’ve really bonded over that.”
With a full offseason between Karim and coach Denne, the team is looking forward to opening a season longer than usual (22 games). When asked why it was longer than usual Karim stated that coach Denne wanted them to get a large variety of great teams, good teams and mediocre teams. He felt skeptical about the idea and I am too. When a team is as skilled as this one it’s best not to tire them out before the championship tournaments in the spring.
The team’s season begins at Hobart on Nov. 15. They will face some fierce battles over the winter, as they have to travel to UPenn, Princeton, Dartmouth as well as Trinity and Harvard.