ITHACA, N.Y. – The No. 8-ranked Cornell men's squash team will participate in the Potter Cup for the first time since the 2013-14 season when it opens the tournament on Friday afternoon against top-ranked Harvard at Trinity College.

First matches between the Big Red and Crimson are scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. All of Cornell's matches throughout the weekend will be live streamed on the Collegiate Squash Association's YouTube page.

This year, Cornell made the jump up from the Hoehn Cup – the 'B' division of the national championships – where it had played each of the last seven seasons the tournament was held.

In its last appearance at the Potter Cup, the Big Red fell to Trinity, 6-3, before edging Rochester by a 5-4 score. The Big Red ended up finishing in sixth place following a 5-4 loss to St. Lawrence in the fifth-place game.

The Big Red returns to action for the first time since Feb. 10 and 12 when it played a pair of matches in Philadelphia. Cornell fell to No. 7 Drexel, 6-3, and No. 6 Virginia, 7-2, in the contests.

Senior Nicholas Göth Errington claimed victory at the No. 9 position in both matches, posting a sweep against Drexel and a four-game win in the team's loss to Virginia.

Sophomore Arnaav Sareen and junior Spencer Yager also won their respective matches against Drexel, while Tanay Punjabi was the only other Cornell player to win his match versus Virginia.

Chotrani Named All-Ivy

For the third time in his collegiate career, Cornell senior Veer Chotrani was named to the All-Ivy First Team, the conference announced last Wednesday, Feb. 15.

Chotrani was an All-Ivy First Team selection in 2020 as well as last season.

Competing exclusively at the No. 1 position this year, Chotrani posted an 8-6 record with seven of his victories coming in three games. Four of his losses were in five games, three of which came in Ivy League contests.

Scouting Harvard

Harvard, who has the No. 1 ranking in the College Squash Association rankings, is a perfect 14-0 on the year.

Ten of the Crimson's 14 victories this year have featured Harvard winning by at least eight points.

Marwan Tarek is 12-0 in his matches at the No. 1 position this season, as Harvard has yet to drop a match at the top position. Ido Burstein and George Crowne have also played one match at the No. 1 spot.

Crowne has a Harvard-leading 13 victories on the year, posting a 13-1 record.

In the previous meeting between Cornell and Harvard, Sareen posted a come-from-behind victory at the No. 3 position in the Big Red's 8-1 loss on Jan. 28 at the Belkin Squash Courts.

Sareen lost the opening two games by identical 11-9 scores before dropping just six points for the remainder of the match, 11-4, 11-1, 11-1, to stave off a Crimson sweep.

Looking Ahead

Regardless of Friday's result, Cornell will play either No. 4 Yale or No. 5 Virginia on Saturday. A victory would put the Big Red in an 11 a.m. match. A loss would push the start time back to 6 p.m.

Cornell was swept by Yale, 9-0, back on Jan. 22, while the Big Red just recently played Virginia two weekends ago in Philadelphia.