The No. 11 St. Lawrence University men's squash team defeated No. 14 Cornell 5-4 to advance to the Hoehn Cup semifinals on the first day of the College Squash Association Team Championships hosted by Yale on Friday afternoon.

The Saints had wins from their No. 1 through No. 4 spots, with Kareen Elrayes adding a three-game win at No. 7 for the razor thin margin.

Belal Nawar came back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to win in five games at No. 3, and Karim Ibrahim came back from a 2-0 deficit at the No. 2 spot to keep the Saints in the match. With the score tied 4-4, Mohamed El Gawarhy made quick work of Cornell's Andrew Muran, winning in three games to give St. Lawrence a 5-4 win.

The win marked the first time that St. Lawrence head coach Scott Denne, who joined the team in January after a stint as an assistant coach at Cornell, had faced his former men's team. The St. Lawrence women's team played Cornell last weekend.

"The match was really tight and highly contested today in every aspect," said Denne. "It did seem to have that extra pressure being Cornell for me personally and the competition was so tight. So many matches went to the full five games and then Mohamed El Gawarhy closed it out for the Saints against Cornell No. 1 Andy Muran. ​​​​Standout players today were Enzo Corigliano, Belal and of course Mohamed."



The Saints will face 15th-ranked George Washington, which defeated 10th-ranked Western Ontario 5-4, at 3 p.m. on Saturday. The winner of that match will advance to the Hoehn Cup Championship. St. Lawrence defeated George Washington 7-2 at Robie Squash Center five weeks ago.

"It was a big relief to win and move forward in the draw to play GW tomorrow," said Denne. 

St. Lawrence 5, Cornell 4
1. Mohamed El Gawarhy (SLU) def. Andy Muran, 11-5, 11-6, 11-9
2. Karim Ibrahim (SLU) def. Charles Culhane, 9-11, 8-11, 11-6, 12-10, 11-5
3. Belal Nawar (SLU) def. Perry Hanson, 8-11, 11-1, 9-11, 11-9, 15-13
4. Enzo Corigliano (SLU) def. Illia Presman, 11-9, 11-9, 11-7
5. Nicholas Göth Errington (COR) def. George Willis, 11-4, 11-9, 11-7
6. V. Luke Park II (COR) def. Youssef Fikry, 11-7, 7-11, 6-11, 12-10, 11-9
7. Kareem Elrayes (SLU) def. Yohann Surti, 13-11, 11-6, 11-6
8. Nikhil Arjunan Iyer (COR) def. Derek Ng, 8-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-5
9. Jared Scherl (COR) def. Aran Thawani, 11-3, 11-3, 11-4

Records: St. Lawrence (6-7); Cornell (4-12)

Up Next: Hoehn Cup Semifinals vs. George Washington at Yale, Saturday, 3 p.m.