February 28, 2018
SPORTS 11
The Williams Record
Squash coach Zafi Levy ’01 recounts his journey from Israel to Williams By CHARLES XU SPORTS EDITOR Zafi Levy ’01, now head coach of men’s and women’s squash, has played a tremendous part in the success of the College’s squash program. As a studentathlete, Levy was a threetime All-American. Since returning to the Berkshires as a coach, Levy has been a centerpiece in recruiting and developing players. Levy’s story starts in his home country of Israel, where he started playing squash at age 12. He excelled at the sport early, developing into a competitive player for Israel. When it came time to make a decision for college, Levy decided to take his talents to the U.S. after serving in the Israeli military. “We were one of the few,” he said. “The trend of international squash players started with a lot of Israelis and Indians because their education systems were very important there. A lot of my friends did as I did. We trained in Israel and moved to the U.S. and went to school.”
Levy spent his first year in the U.S. at Trinity, earning All-America honors as a firstyear. Levy knew he could find even better academic opportunities, however, and at the end of his first year at Trinity, he transferred to Williams. “It was the hardest decision I made until then and definitely the best one,” Levy said. “It made me the person I am today.” Following graduation, Levy took his economics and political science degree to Lehman Brothers, working as a mortgage trader in New York. Then, in the summer of 2002, Levy found an opportunity to return to the Williams squash community when Dean Dave Johnson ’71 stepped down from his head coaching position. Levy started as an interim coach and became the head coach in 2003. He hasn’t looked back since. In the 16 years he has coached, Levy said, competition has become increasingly fierce each season. Squash has yet to become an Olympic sport, hindering its funding and development internationally, so great players often come to
PHOTO COURTESY OF SQUASH AND BEYOND.
Zafi Levy '01 earned All-America honors as a player at the College. the U.S. to compete, just as Levy did. As squash is not separated into divisions, Levy found the biggest challenge to be competing against large schools who were able to offer scholarships to top squash players. “Although we play the same way [as Div. I schools], and we train well, and our team improves, it feels like the competition improves a little more,”
Levy said. “The biggest reality we have to face is that, academically, Williams is such an elite institution [that] we will not accept any of the lower-academic players.” Despite the challenges of recruiting as the coach at a Div. III school, Levy has recognized that patience in developing players can yield the same results as offering scholarships to top players. “We have some terrific kids
who really want to come here and play, versus not playing at a Div. I school,” he said. ”We take in the kids that may be less qualified squash players but with lots of potential and develop them into better players. We give them a better opportunity to play and develop. That’s our motto and our strategy to keep the team competitive.” To compete against large universities, Levy treats his program like an academy, in which he can allow players one or two years to develop and adjust to a new environment. While larger college programs prioritize those who can perform immediately, Levy recognizes that everyone has a different timeline for development. “We will stick with them for another year and mature and grow and, before you know it, you have this fantastic player at hand who nobody else could have thought could happen,” he said. Similar to his academy-like approach to coaching, Levy runs Squash and Beyond, a summer camp that allows young players to develop not
only their squash skills, but also their academic abilities. The program gives players the chance to take classes taught by College faculty and high school teachers, including a math program and even ACT and SAT classes. Levy said that recruiting can be competitive, and the program gives young players exposure to the College early on. “A lot of them come here and have great memories from the town and from the facilities and the campus,” he said. In addition to Squash and Beyond in Williamstown, Levy leads an annual trip abroad for kids to play in tournaments against foreign competition. Last year, Levy gave kids the chance to compete in New Zealand. This June, he hopes to coach them in Portugal and Italy. Levy has been a key figure in continuing Williams’ excellence in squash, a program that dates back to 1938. With his leadership, the program looks forward to continuing to developing talent and making deep playoff runs in NESCAC and national tournaments for years to come.
Alpine, Nordic ski teams finish fifth at Men’s ice advances in NESCAC playoffs NCAA Eastern Regionals By MADELINE ABRAHAMS STAFF WRITER
By JACK SCHRUPP STAFF WRITER Skiing placed fifth at the NCAA Eastern Regional Championship last weekend at Middlebury. At Rikert Nordic Center, the Nordic team took to an icy man-made snow loop for Friday’s races. In the men's 10k, Braden Becker ’19 led the way in 19th. He was followed by cocaptain Jack Schrupp ’18 in 22nd and Jack Consenstein ’20 in 23rd. Schrupp and Consenstein finished 0.3 seconds apart. The men put five skiers in the top 30, with Nick Gardner ’19 in 27th and Henry McGrew ’21 in 28th. Dylan Syben ’20 finished in 48th. Overall, the men finished seventh on the day. In the women's 5k, Sonya Jampel ’19 led the way in 21st. She was followed by Ingrid Thyr ’20 in 32nd and Carmen Bango ’20 in 40th. Lucy Alexander ’20 was close behind in 42nd. Elowyn Pfeiffer ’18 finished in 50th. The women finished the day eighth in the field. “A hard effort all around,” the Nordic ski team's head coach Jason Lemieux ’01 said. “It was great to see so many of our skiers toeing the line with intent.” For the Alpine team, cocaptain Marc Talbott ’18 led the men with a ninth-place finish in the slalom, just 2.47 seconds behind that of winner Tanguy Nef of Dartmouth. Bryan Bailey ’19 made the top 30, finishing in 24th, while Cole Janco ’20 and Will Kannegieser ’20 were close behind in 32nd and 33rd, respectively.
On Friday, the Ephs competed in the last slalom race of the carnival season. “The team has continued to grow in slalom,” Alpine head coach Kelsey Levine ’10 said. “It is great to see Marc lead the team, stepping up his result each slalom. Bryan is starting to string some full runs together. Cole has been a great addition to that side of the scoreboard.” The Alpine women had two skiers finish within the top 30; Madeline Dekko ’21 and Izi Torres ’19 were 22nd and 27th, respectively. Anna Bruce ’21, Makena Jones ’18, Clara Hathorne ’20 and Gibson Donnan ’19 finished 35th, 42nd, 43rd and 45th, in that order. “I was excited to see a new level of intensity from the women’s team,” Levine said. “Maddie and Izi took more risks than they have been in the past few races.” Combined, the strong Alpine and Nordic performances put the Ephs in sixth place at the end of day one. Co-captain Hannah Hunsaker ’19 commented on Alpine’s carnival performance last weekend. “I am very proud of the team for finishing out the regular season with some of the strongest results to date,” she said “It was awesome to see our athletes able to perform in tough conditions. We are looking forward to some more great results in the postseason.” On Saturday, Talbott capped off a great carnival season with a 12th-place finish in the giant slalom. Paul Sheils ’20 finished in 20th place. Bailey, Janco and Kannegieser placed 36th, 38th and 42nd, respectively.
The Office of Communications recommends ...
Annual Faculty Lecture Series: "Zen and the Art of American Literature" with Bernie Rhie, associate professor of English Thursday, March 1 4:15 p.m.
On the women's side, Bruce was the top finisher in 32nd place. Donnan was close behind in 33rd, Dekko was 39th, Jones was 43rd and Hathorne was 45th. On Sunday, the Nordic skiers raced in the final day of the carnival. Becker led the men with a phenomenal second-place finish. Gardner also skied well for the Ephs, finishing 14th. McGrew had the best race of his season, finishing 17th. Schrupp finished 22nd, and Syben finished 46th. The men’s team tied the University of Vermont for second place on day three. On the women's side, Bango skied to a 13th-place finish. She was followed by Thyr in 15th, Jampel in 22nd and Alexander in 23rd. Ivy Spiegel-Ostrom ’20 and Pfeiffer finished 37th and 55th, respectively. The women finished fourth on the day. “Almost the entire team skied above their bib number rankings on Sunday, and that's a great day for the team," Lemieux said. Following the race, the Ephs will send two skiers to the NCAA Championships from March 7-10 in Steamboat Springs, Colo. Becker will represent Nordic, while Talbott will represent Alpine in the national competition. The men's and women's ski teams will graduate Jones, Pfeiffer, Schrupp, Talbott, co-captain Sarah Becker ’18, Megan Greiner ’18, Heidi Halvorsen ’18, Charlie Harrison ’18.5, Lara Lathrop ’18 and Payton Spencer ’18 at the conclusion of the season.
Seventh-seeded men’s ice hockey (14–10–1, 9–8–1 in the NESCAC) scored three unanswered goals in the second period last Saturday to knock off Connecticut College 4-2 in the first round of the NESCAC tournament. "Playoff hockey is like no other [game]," interim head coach Mike Monti said. "We knew going into this game that it would be a battle." The two teams had faced each other twice in the regular season. The Ephs came away with a decisive 7-2 victory on Dec. 2, but in the Jan. 27 matchup, the Camels ended up with a hard-fought 3-2 victory. The quarterfinal matchup took place on Connecticut College’s home ice in New London, Conn. While there were no goals scored in the first period, the Camels started well offensively, outshooting the Ephs 14-9 in the first 20 minutes. The Ephs scored three consecutive goals in the second period. The first came at 5:42, when C.J. Shugart ’18 fired one
past Camel goaltender Connor Rodericks on an assist from Connor Meike ’19. The second Williams goal came exactly one minute later. At 6:42, Joe Welch ’18 notched his fourth goal of the season, assisted by Roberto Cellini ’19. The final goal of the period came at 11:06 from Max Fuld ’20, assisted by Marcus Mollica ’19 and Tyler Scott ’21. "The first period, we weathered the storm. [We] made some adjustments in the intermission and had a strong second period," Monti said. Entering the third period, the Ephs led 3-0. The Camels, however, scored back-to-back goals to bring the deficit to one. The first Camel goal came at 12:53 from Jacob Moreau, assisted by Ryan Petti. Minutes later, Petti cashed in on the Camels’ second point of the game. At 15:31, he put a shot past Eph goaltender Michael Pinios ’19 on an assist from Brett Stirling. Down 3-2, the Camels had just under five minutes to grab an equalizer. At 18:40, the Camels pulled Rodericks to gain an extra skater. At 19:29, Shugart
picked up his second goal of the game, an empty-netter. Cellini, who leads his team in points (23) and assists (16), earned an assist on the play. “Heading into the third, we talked about how it’s tough to end a team’s season and that winning the game would take a price to pay,” Monti said. “Connecticut College pressed us and ultimately capitalized to make it a one-goal game.” The game ended with a score of 4-2, and the men finished with a 36-28 shot advantage. Pinios made 26 saves, while Rodericks made 32. “This week, we get back to practice, and [we’ll] focus on Trinity,” Monti said. The men will travel to face No. 6 Trinity, the top seed, in the semifinal round on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. The teams split the regular-season series this year, with the Ephs winning the Jan. 6 matchup 5-1 in Williamstown and the Bantams prevailing 4-3 on Feb. 2 in Hartford, Conn. Trinity, last year’s conference champion and national runner-up, came back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Williams in the 2017 semifinal.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SPORTS INFORMATION.
C.J. Shugart '18 scored two goals against Connecticut College in a 4-2 victory in the first round of the playoffs.
ATHLETES OF THE WEEK “Tim is a major talent and a
“I could not be more happy
terrific racer. What makes his swims from this weekend even more impressive is that he had mono over our training trip and was out of the water for a few weeks. He also had an ankle injury that hampered him a bit before and after his mono. I believe there may be even better things in store for him at NCAAs if we can keep him healthy.”
for Mike. He's been a leader in this program for a few years now... When Mike got hurt at Middlebury, we hoped it wasn't the last time he'd get on the court. For him to put in the work, stay ready and then perform at the level he did this weekend is a testament to the type of player, teammate and person Mike is.”
–Head coach Steven Kuster
–Head coach Kevin App
TIM KOSTOLANSKY ’18
Wege Auditorium Reception to follow in Schow Atrium
MEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING SUMMIT, N.J.
MIKE GREENMAN ’18
Kostolansky set a new pool, meet and NESCAC record in the 50 butterfly. He placed second in the 50 and 100 backstroke and 400 freestyle and third in the 200 medley and freestyle relay.
Greenman returned to the NESCAC title game after an eight-game absence due to injury and tallied nine points, four rebounds and five assists, helping his team become NESCAC champions.
MEN'S BASKETBALL LINWOOD, N.J.