When the Harvard men’s squash team competed in this weekend’s USSRA Team Championship in Hartford, Conn., the results weren’t particularly encouraging.

But the weekend wasn’t about results.

The depleted Crimson entered two squads into the competition. The first team was shut out by Trinity’s top quintet, seeded second in the tournament, in the quarterfinals of the 16-team draw. That Crimson entry eventually placed fifth, while Harvard’s second squad lost each of its three matches.

Yet, the entire team gained valuable experience against both professional and premier college players. The Harvard program, too, was able to see how it stacks up against the nation’s best teams.

The contest with the most significant ramifications for the Crimson’s season was its quarterfinal matchup with Trinity’s top five.

With Harvard junior intercollegiate No. 5 James Bullock still sidelined with a groin injury, sophomore No. 2 Asher Hochberg and co-captain No. 3 Dylan Patterson each lost in four games to their Trinity opponents, intercollegiate No. 7 Nick Kyme and freshman Yvonne Badan, respectively.

Meanwile, freshman Will Broadbent, sophomore intercollegiate No. 8 Mike Blumberg and co-captain Thomas Storch suffered straight-game losses at Nos. 1, 4 and 5, respectively.

The match, though, wasn’t as one-sided as it appeared. Broadbent dropped three close games to defending intercollegiate champion Bernardo Samper, while Blumberg made things difficult for Reggie Schonborn, who had to fend off a game ball in the third game.

Despite the loss, the Crimson expects the familiarity it gained from simply competing against the Bantams to aid it when the two teams square off in a dual meet on Feb. 1.

“We went there to play a team like Trinity,” Patterson said. “We know they’re human now. I’m not afraid of these guys at all.”

Still, even having broken through Trinity’s mystique, Harvard knows it will face an uphill battle against the Bantams.

“On that specific day we’re going to have to come with a great effort,” Storch said. “We know that we’re capable of it. It’s just going to be a matter of performing.”

To advance to its match with Trinity, Harvard blanked a team of Boston-based players that later recovered to win the consolation bracket over the other first-round losers.

In that matchup, Hochberg defeated Rohan Bhappu, a 2002 First Team All-American for Trinity.

The Crimson’s loss to the Bantams relegated it to the Plate bracket. There, it shut out both Princeton’s second five and a New York-based quintet to finish fifth.