The St. Lawrence University women's squash team has been awarded the College Squash Association's Chaffee Award for team sportsmanship, announced by the Association Tuesday afternoon.

It is the first time the Saints have won the Chaffee Award, which is voted on by all college varsity teams. The women's program was previously the recipient of the CSA's most improved award in 2014.

"It is truly an honor to receive this award," head coach Chris Abplanalp said. "This is a very special group of young women. We have a great group of leaders in our senior class and it showed this season. I am proud of the way they represented themselves and St. Lawrence University."

The Saints won the Liberty League Championship in January and finished No. 24 in the final CSA rankings for the 2017-18 season. St. Lawrence finished with a 9-13 record with a highly competitive schedule that featured four teams that ended the season in the CSA top-10, including national champion Harvard, that included a six-match win streak in late January.

The Chaffee Award is given annually to a women's team coach whose team has demonstrated the qualities of sportsmanship, teamwork, character, and improvement. In 1987, the women's squash team at Williams College donated the award in honor of their former coach, Clarence C. Chaffee. Chaffee began Williams's squash program in 1938, coached the school's first intercollegiate team in 1939, and led the program until his retirement in 1970.