A determined group from Greenwich Academy entered the U.S. High School Team Squash Championships on a mission.
They didn’t want to feel those same emotions from last year’s tournament, coming so close but falling to Baldwin School in the championship match. This time around the Gators once again battled Baldwin School for the Patterson Cup, but the outcome was much different.
Winning its first four matches of the day, Greenwich Academy was able to reclaim the national championship in grand fashion to beat the Bears 5-2.
“I am unbelievably proud of these girls,” Greenwich Academy head coach Luke Butterworth said. “I couldn’t be prouder, to be honest. And it wasn’t just for winning the title, but the way we won it. We won it with togetherness and we were united as a group. The morale of the group was so high and the weekend couldn’t have gone any better, both on and off the court.”
The Gators picked up victories in the championship match against Baldwin from Haley Scott, India Stephenson, Haley Aube, Emma Mactaggart and Jessica Yacobucci.
“Everybody played really well,” Yacobucci said. “I think because we won the first four matches that we got off to a good start. We just were ready to play and that kind of took the stress off of the rest of the team.
“The win was great, especially with what happened last year when we lost to that team,” added Yacobucci. “We were really excited to play them this year and we kind of had the pressure off of us because we were trying to get the championship back. But it was a great day for us and the whole team played really well. We are all one big family.”
At No. 2, Scott finished off Baldwin’s Surmin Mudgil 11-9, 11-2, 11-9. The Gators had two more athletes that swept their respective opponent. At No. 5, Aube took care of Olivia Horowitz 11-8, 11-6, 11-7. Not to be outdone was Yacobucci, who blanked Baldwin’s Alexis Shatzman 11-6, 11-7, 11-8.
“We are really unified as a team,” said Yacobucci, a senior at GA. “We get along really well and support each other. We are also really positive the whole time. This is a fun season for me and it’s something that I really look forward to the most. I’m kind of sad to be leaving. Although squash tends to be individual, we have a team behind us at all times and that’s what makes this group special.”
Competing at No. 6, Mactaggart went four game with Baldwin’s Balia Mudgil. Mactaggart easily won the first game 11-2, but Mudgil came back to even the score with a 11-3 win. That’s when Mactaggart stepped up the intensity and finished off her opponent 11-8 and 11-9.
Stephenson was in a thrilling match with Baldwin School’s Angela Luo at No. 3. After falling 7-11, Stephenson came back in the second game to win 11-9. Again Luo dominated and grabbed the third game 11-2. However Stephenson wouldn’t be denied and took the fourth and fifth games, 12-10 and 11-6 respectively to win the match.
At No. 1, Emme Leonard, Greenwich Academy’s top player, was in a hard-fought game against Baldwin’s Morgan Steelman. Losing the first two games 10-12, Leonard came back to take the third game 11-6. However Steelman took the victory with a 12-10 victory in the fourth game.
“Having my teammates behind me and support me helped me pull out some victories during the championship run,” Leonard said. “This is a thrill and it’s so much fun. We had such a great weekend.”
Despite the loss, Leonard had a stellar National Championship tournament and couldn’t be happier with her team’s performance.
“It was a great feeling,” Leonard said. “It was amazing. After a hard loss last year to them, bringing back the trophy and having the title of national champions is amazing. That means a lot. High school squash is getting a lot more popular and there’s a lot more teams that are coming in. So it’s getting to be a much bigger deal to win in squash.”
Greenwich Academy’s also got pushed to five game at No. 4, as Claire Aube took on Grace Steelman but was defeated 11-6, 4-11, 4-11, 11-8, 6-11.
“When we won that fourth match to clinch the title, there definitely was a lot of emotion,” Butterworth said. “The girls were really happy and proud. We still had to finish the match and it’s difficult to play when you’ve already won, but the girls stayed out there, played sensible squash and closed it out professionally. Once the final match was over we definitely enjoyed ourselves and the girls were really happy.”
Greenwich Academy started the tournament by playing the Baldwin School JV team. From there it was a victory in the quarterfinals against Noble & Greenough School. The Gators advanced to the championship match with a semifinal victory over Deerfield Academy.
“The girls really stepped up when they needed to step up and were cheering each other on,” Butterworth said. “They were giving each other encouragement throughout the whole weekend. The final was our toughest test. We won our matches when we needed to and we took it to another level in our play.”
For Yacobucci, there are no bragging rights at home when it comes to squash. Her twin brother, David Yacobucci, is on the Brunswick School squash team and they also won a national championship, upending Haverford School, 4-3.
“We really don’t compete,” Yacobucci said. “People ask us that, but really all we want is for each other to do well. I think I probably wanted to win for our team as much as I did for the Brunswick boys to win and for him to do well. We don’t compete, but it was really great for him to win as well.”
Throughout the season, the Gators have been making it look easy. In nine regular season games as of press time, Greenwich Academy is a perfect 9-0. In fact, leading up to Nationals, GA only dropped one game all season, and that was back on Jan. 7.
“I think that the desire to win as a group, rather than an individual, is very important to the team’s success,” Butterworth said. “The team’s togetherness, the way they train together, has impacted the results of the whole season. Every practice that we have had, the girls have been united together to work on their game and improve in different aspects. They also work together off the court and that is great to see.”
It’s the time at the GA squash courts after school where Leonard sees a constant improvement, from both herself and her teammates.
“We train very hard in practice,” Leonard said. “We try and do some fitness and game play, but what I think makes us so strong is how unified we are. Going into Nationals, we all felt like we could support each other and I think that’s a huge component of winning.”
While the season is winding down for Greenwich Academy, Butterworth will look back and have nothing but fond memories from this magical season.
“It’s been so much fun,” Butterworth said. “The girls are an excellent group of girls. Every girl that I have met here in GA has been really welcoming. To work with such talented girls makes your job even more enjoyable. Seeing the smiles on their faces when they won the national title was very rewarding.”