And the Crimson wants to show Yale just that.
"We have a chance to prove what kind of team we have," Harvard Co-Captain Doug Lifford said. "The Princeton match was a fluke. It's definitely going to be a dogfight. We're going to have to play our best to beat them."
Yale is the only undefeated team in the country. The Elis are heavily favored to defeat Harvard after routing Princeton, 7-2, February 11.
So Excited
"We're all excited about the match," said Jon Musto, Yale's number-one player. "This is really the big match for us. The Princeton match was nice, but we don't care that much about Princeton. We want to beat Harvard."
It's been a long time since the Elis have defeated Harvard. Actually, they haven't beaten the Crimson since John F. Kennedy '40 was President in 1961.
But Yale is the only collegiate team to shut out the Crimson in Harvard's 64-year history. Yale recorded a 9-0 decision in 1947.
What a Crowd
Listen to the warning, Harvard fans: Yale is bringing several busloads of its own supporters. The Elis are hoping to take away the Crimson's home court advantage.
"They're bringing a lot of fans up here," Lifford said. "Hopefully, our fans will come out in full force. We want to make sure it's still a home match for us. They're in our house now. We're going to take a rolled-up newspaper to them."
Yale is favored to win the match, but once the players take the court, odds and pre-game predictions take a back seat.
The top four positions should provide a lot of sparks. The matches will pit last year's Ivy Rookie of the Year Musto against 1987 Ivy Rookie of the Year Jon Bernheimer at the number-one slot, Cyrus Mehta and Lifford at two, Tim Goodale and Farokh Pandole at three, and Tom Clayton and Johnny Kaye at four.
If Harvard isn't successful at the top, then the Crimson will need strong matches from the lower part of its lineup. Harvard's lineup from five to nine includes Jeremy Fraiberg, Co-Captain Frank Huerta. Seth Handy, Jon Masland, and George Polsky.
"They're tough from one to nine--especially from five to nine," Lifford said.
Thirteen years ago, Jack Barnaby's last match as Harvard's coach was against a heavily favored Princeton squad. But Harvard pulled off one of the biggest upsets in collegiate squash, capturing a 6-3 victory.
"This is our last dual match for Coach Fish," sophomore Jon Masland said. "He's a great coach. He knows so much about the game. We just don't want to win it for ourselves, but we want to win it for him."
Fish finds himself in the same position that Barnaby was in 13 years ago. It's a different era and a different team, but it's the same situation.
Just another war.