"It is hard to compare this year's win to last year's," Ben-Shachar said. "But we really progressed from the beginning of the year till the end. Princeton soundly beat Western Ontario in the semi-finals, and Western Ontario had given us a tough time at the beginning of the year [in a72 Crimson win on December 3]."

Unsurprisingly, the players stressed Durocher-like teamwork and hard work as the keys to success.

"When one looks at it from an outside perspective, one only sees the statistic," Ben-Shachar said. "But we win because we work and train the hardest as a team. Although we are individuals, we play as a team. And we have the best coaching."

All the players lauded the coaching staff, especially coach Bill Doyle, who has had three national titles in this three years at the helm.

Moreover, Ben-Shacher emphasized the mythical bonds of teamwork as a decisive factor in some of the longer matches against Princeton.

"After playing for an hour and a half and being exhausted the feeling of the whole team made a real difference (against Princeton)," he said.

Ezra also pointed out that the 8-1 score against the Tigers was deceptively close, but--along with better conditioning by the Crimson--he noted that Princeton's unpreparedness contributed to the outcome.

"Every time we played Princeton, they had a different line-up," he said. "That really showed a degree of inconsistency and unpreparedness."

Harvard ended the year with a 25 straight dual match winning streak that dates back to March 1993, and with a 100-8 aggregate record in all matches (504-4 Ivy). This statistical dominance is almost unmatched in modern competitive inter-collegiate history, and figures to continue, with only on of the nine top players graduating (Mike Masland, who usually is seeded fourth of fifth).

Secretariat was only one horse, the Harvard men's squash team rides on.