After three years, the jig is up for the No. 4 Harvard women’s squash team.

Looking to salvage a share of its fourth-straight Ivy Championship, the Crimson proved to be a mere speed bump on No. 1 Yale’s road to the 2004 league crown and the regular-season national women’s squash title.

The undefeated Bulldogs (10-0, 5-0 Ivy) beat Harvard (5-3, 4-2) 7-2 at Yale on Saturday, claiming national and league glory as well as the Barhite Cup, given to the regular season dual-match national champion.

The Crimson, with two Ivy losses, finished third in the league for the first time since the 1999-2000 season—when none of the current team members was even enrolled at Harvard.

“It’s sad, but you can’t win it every year,” co-captain Louisa Hall said. “I’m lucky to have won it three times.”

Although the Crimson suffered its first Ivy loss in four years last weekend against Princeton, the team still hoped to split the league title with a win over Yale.

But the Bulldogs—who earlier this season shocked 2002 and 2003 national champion Trinity 5-4—proved too much for Harvard to overcome. Though the Crimson will still play Yale as well as its other vanquishers—No. 2 Trinity and No. 3 Princeton—in the Howe Cup this weekend, the Ivy title is, for this year, out of reach.

“Yale has been building up a solid, deep team these past few years,” sophomore Moira Weigel said. “It’s difficult to compete with the kind of talent that they’re bringing in.”

Harvard’s only wins came in hard-fought, five-game duels in the No. 4 and No. 5 slots. Freshman intercollegiate No. 32 Lydia Williams took out intercollegiate No. 12 Frances Ho 9-2, 0-9, 1-9, 9-2, 9-6, coming back from a 2-1 deficit to top her experienced opponent.

Weigel, at No. 5, also rallied from a 2-1 deficit disadvantage to claim victory over intercollegiate No. 20 Rachita Vora, 5-9, 9-3, 7-9, 9-5, 9-3.

Up far in the third game before falling 7-9, Weigel credited the vocal support from her teammates and coaches with helping her mount the comeback.

“I just decided I wasn’t going to lose,” Weigel said.

“Moira and Lydia were amazing, they played with such heart,” Hall added. “The middle part is the most vaunted part of Yale’s lineup.”

But their strong performances against highly-ranked foes were not enough to offset the overall domination of the Bulldogs, who boast three of the top five intercollegiate players in the country, including the top-ranked Michelle Quibell.

Quibell—only a sophomore—took out Harvard’s No. 1 Hall, the intercollegiate No. 4, in four games. Hall jumped out to an early lead, winning the first game 9-7. But Quibell stormed back to grab the next three games—9-2, 9-3, 9-7—and the win.