Freshman WILL BROADBENT (L), shown against Yale, beat No. 1 Bernardo Samper Saturday.

The Harvard men’s squash team ended its season this weekend at the College Squash Association Team Championships jointly hosted by Princeton and Penn. The fourth-seeded Crimson fell 8-1 to No. 1 Trinity in Saturday’s semifinals, but recovered to avenge Wednesday’s 5-4 loss to Yale with a 5-4 victory over the third-seeded Bulldogs in yesterday’s third place match.

In both Saturday and Sunday’s contests, the most exciting matches were the last ones. Against the Bantams, freshman No. 1 Will Broadbent, the intercollegiate No. 6, kept Harvard from suffering its first 9-0 loss ever, coming from one game down to upset Bernardo Samper, the defending intercollegiate champion and reigning intercollegiate No. 1.

Yesterday, co-captain No. 4 Dylan Patterson trailed 2-1 in the deciding match, but recovered to give the Crimson the victory and third place in the tournament.

Harvard 5, Yale 4

On Wednesday, the Crimson had suffered a heartbreaking 5-4 loss to Yale, costing it second place in the Ivy League and the No. 3 seed in this weekend’s tournament. It was also Harvard’s first home loss to the Bulldogs since 1961.

But yesterday, inspired by Broadbent’s heroic effort the day before, the Crimson reversed Wednesday’s result to end its season on a winning note. Junior No. 2 James Bullock, sophomore No. 3 Michael Blumberg, Patterson and junior No. 5 Ziggy Whitman all repeated their victories from Wednesday, while sophomore No. 6 Asher Hochberg defeated Gavin Cumberbatch in five games to clinch the win after losing in the previous meeting.

Yale’s Josh Schwartz, who had fallen to Patterson at No. 4 on Wednesday, was sidelined by a hamstring injury, but the Bulldogs also curiously elevated Aftab Mathur over Chris Olsen for Saturday’s match.

“Their lineup’s kind of a mystery,” Patterson said.

Hochberg gave Harvard a boost in the first three matches, winning at the pivotal No. 6 position to give the Crimson a 2-1 lead.

But Yale recovered to even the score at four, with only Patterson and Mathur remaining on the court. Harvard assistant coach Mohammed Ayaz refused to tell Patterson the results of the other matches between games, but Patterson still guessed that he needed to win when he saw the crowd converge on his court.

Trailing 2-1 as Mathur used his height to stretch out for Patterson’s lobs and drop shots, Patterson abandoned his approach and adjusted his strategy to take advantage of his superior fitness. Attempting to increase the tempo of the game, Patterson hit the ball harder and lower to force Mathur into increased running.

“[Patterson’s] diamond-cutting volleys sent his opponent in every direction,” Broadbent said.

The change proved effective, as Patterson, despite the pressure, took the fourth and fifth games, 9-2 and 9-4, to secure the victory and third place for the Crimson.

“If there was one person we would want playing the deciding match against Yale, it’d be Dylan,” Hochberg said. “He’s a senior, he’s experienced, it’s his last match and he’s extremely tough mentally.”

Trinity 8, Harvard 1