The best team at Yale this winter might not be the Men’s Hockey team. They certainly don’t have the strongest record. The only undefeated team at Yale this season is Women’s Squash.

Since Yale lost to Trinity last year in the third place match for the Howe Cup, the NCAA college squash tournament, the team has won every match. They have defeated Princeton, Penn and Trinity, despite losing to these teams last year.

Captain Logan Greer, PC ’11 attributes much of this success to a strong freshmen class—a whopping four freshman are starting for the Bulldogs. Freshman Gwen Tilghman, MC ’14, has won every individual match she has played this season. But she said that she doesn’t focus on staying undefeated. “That’s not my overall goal,” she said. “I’m just trying to play the best I can for each match.” And so far this season, her best has been enough.

The team hasn’t been above superstition as it marches towards the perfect season. Greer never takes the elevator up to the Brady Squash Center before a match. This tactic started even before college for Greer, who played many tournaments in the world-class facility on the fourth floor of Payne Whitney while still in high school.

“Whenever I would be sort of tired, and thought that I would need to take the elevator, I would play a match and lose because it was the end of the weekend and I would be tired,” she said. “So I guess I associated the elevator with losing and the stairs with winning. I try to refrain from taking it at all costs.”

Differences in training have also contributed to success this year, Greer and Head Coach David Talbott said. The Yale women have focused on improving their match play this season. “We’re playing a lot more challenge matches,” Greer said. “So we’re competing with one another on a regular basis.”

Coach Talbott said that this season has been different because the women have had to beat one another to earn top spots in the lineup. “We really made them play severe matches against each other on a regular basis,” he said. That increased match play, along with more work on strength training and fitness has made the Yale team the fittest group in the league, Talbott said.

Talbott added that the three seniors, Greer, Sarah Toomey, DC ‘11, and Caroline Reigeluth, PC ’11, have been important assets throughout the season and their time at Yale. The women have provided motivation as the team tries to win a national championship.

“The focus for this year has been on winning for the three seniors,” he said. “We just didn’t have enough to back them up in past years. This is sort of, we feel like, our year to get it done for those guys.”

But at least one formidable challenge still looms: Harvard. The Crimson also has yet to lose a team match and, in fact, no individual Harvard player has lost a match.

“Last year, we got crushed,” Greer said. But this year the team beat Harvard in a November scrimmage, Greer explained. Harvard also has yet to play the top ranked teams that the Bulldogs have beaten.

Greer knows that the team will have to play well to beat the Crimson but has confidence that she and her teammates can get the job done. “We believe that we have the talent to beat them,” she said. “We’re by far a stronger team. Much deeper, much more talented.”

But Greer didn’t stop there. “It’s the strongest team I’ve ever played on at Yale.” She paused for a moment. “By far.”

The Harvard match, which will be played in Cambridge, will surely be a close one. Greer said that Harvard’s home court advantage could contribute to some unease as her young team adjusts to a new venue.

Still, she added, her team would have an important mental advantage over the Cantabs. “We’re sort of in a unique position in that although we’re undefeated we’re ranked second and not technically expected to beat Harvard when we play them so we’re sort of the underdogs,” she said. “We have the confidence of such a good record but also we lack the pressure of being expected to win.”

Coach Talbott said the Harvard and Yale teams were “dead even” with regard to talent. He noted that Harvard has not lost a match in two seasons and has the best player in women’s squash, sophomore Laura Gemmell. But, he admitted, while Harvard faces tough competition in the weeks leading up to the Feb. 12 match, his players will be able to train during those weeks with the confidence that they have already beaten top teams.

“I think it really comes down to who plays the best squash on that day,” he said. “It’ll be fun and our kids are psyched for it.”

Even if Yale beats Harvard, the team will most likely have to face the Crimson again for this year’s Howe Cup. The team certainly has hard work ahead. But Talbott, just as Greer, thinks that this team has the talent and depth to win a national championship.

“I think we’re right there with any of the best teams that have been at Yale,” he said. “We’re strong all the way through to the bottom.”

If you can’t make the trek to see the Women play in Cambridge next weekend, check out the team this Sat., Feb. 5, at noon in the Brady Squash Center on the fourth floor of Payne Whitney Gym. Don’t take the elevator.