HARTFORD, Conn. - The Trinity College women's squash team will be the No. 1 seed as the Bantams head down to the University of Pennsylvania for the College Squash Association (CSA) National Team (Howe Cup) Championships this weekend from Friday, February 17 to Sunday, February 19.  Top-ranked Trinity enters the tournament with a perfect record of 16-0 after breezing through  the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championship title last weekend with 9-0 victories over Wesleyan, Amherst, and Tufts.  The Bantams, coached by Wendy Bartlett (39th Season)  will open against the No. 8-seeded Yale University Bulldogs in a quarterfinal match on Friday at 3:30 p.m.  The Bantams, who finished third in last year's Howe Cup in 2020, are seeking their first CSA National title since 2014.  Trinity also won the Howe Cup in 2002 and 2003. 

The Howe Cup consists of the top eight teams in intercollegiate squash in a three-round, single elimination tournament. With a win on Friday, the Bantams will advance to the CSA Semifinals against either No. 4-seeded Drexel University or No. 5-seeded Virginia at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday with the Howe Cup Finals happening the next day at 1 p.m. The other matchups in the Howe Cup Quarterfinals are No. 2-seeded Harvard University vs. No. 7-seeded Columbia University and No. 3-seeded Princeton University vs. No. 6-seeded Cornell University.  Trinity has a combined individual record of 128-16 in its 16 matches this year with victories overall six of the seven other schools in the Howe Cup. The Bantams beat Harvard, 7-2, Drexel and Princeton, both by a 5-4 score, and Yale, 8-1, on the road this winter and downed Cornell, 6-3, and Columbia, 7-2, at home. 

Trinity sophomore Janna El Ashmawy (Alexandria, Egypt) has been perfect this winter with a 16-0 record, upping her career mark to 27-0, while sophomore Lulu Palacios (Asuncion, Paraguay) and first-year Fabiola Cabello (Guadalajara, Mexico) are both 15-1.   Junior captain Nouran Youssef (Smouha, Egypt) and sophomores Jana Safy (Cairo, Egypt), and Malak Moustafa (Alexandria, Egypt) are all returning All-Americans playing in Trinity's top third, and the Bantam trio has a 28-6 record among them. Trinity senior captain Nanna Carleke (Karlskrona, Sweden), junior Madeleine Hylland (Baerum, Norway) and rookies Hannah Chukwu (Tatabanya, Hungary) and Kara Lincou (Le Tampon, Reunion) have combined to go 39-8 to round out the top ten.