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-report from www.collegesquash.com Michael played Julian Illingworth, Yale's number one male player and seeded to reach the final. Michael immediately showed he has the game to put immense pressure on the talented Yale sophomore. Illingworth, who was not sharp at the outset, ran into a focused buzz saw in Ferreira, whose accuracy was totally on target, allowing him to jump on every Illingworth loose ball. Ferreira ran to a fast 9-5 first game lead, and then an almost unbelieveable 9-0 second game against Illingworth. Ferreira continued to take advantage of Illingworth mistakes, steadily moving to a 2-0 7-2 lead; at which point his game plan tragically changed --- he began looking to close out the points too quickly, and began clipping the top of the tin. In the third, it wasn't that Illingworth really became inspired, though he did become steady as a rock and determined. It was a series of Ferreira mistakes that brought Julian steadily back into the game. Once Ferreira had let Illingworth back in, at 7-7 in the third, Illingworth took charge. He closed out the third and gained more and more advantage throughout the fourth, as he closed out his near escape, 5-9, 0-9, 9-7, 9-7, 9-1.   Trinity squash team won 7-2 against Harvard but unfortunately Michael lost 3 games to 1 (7-9,9-6,9-4,9-5) to William Broadbent who is ranked one place higher in the college rankings. Michael played at No.1 for Trinity against Gilly Lane (Freshman from Penn) and won 9-2,9-3,9-4. Trinity beat Penn comfortably 8-1.   However, a few days before Trinity were playing Yale and Michael lost at No.1 against Julian Illingworth (ranked one place below him at beginning of the season) - though Trinity won 6-3 overall.  Michael won the first two games of this semi-final against the No.1 seed El-Halaby from Priceton, 6-9, 7-9. However his best opportunity came when he served in the fourth game at 7-all. However, El-Halaby ran out that game when he hit a good ball that clung too tightly to the right wall to be returned by Michael. The Egypt-born Princeton freshman then won the fifth game 9-1 to take the match 3-2. Whilst the rest of the Trinity players won Michael lost. So he is human after all - Michael won the first game 9-7 but then lost the next three games - 9-7,9-3,9-1.  For the full team match report CLICK HERE We are led to believe that before Christmas Michael was in Australia training with some of the best from times gone by. However, with all those beaches, glorious sunshine, plenty of bars and other distractions, is it true? Well, if his match last week was anything to go by - yes! He had a convincing win against Anschul Manchanda from Yale, 9-3, 9-1, 9-1. However, most of the Trinity team had a convincing win so I'm sure there'll be some tougher matches to come! For the full team result of the Trinity v Yale match CLICK HERE Richard Barker (pictured  right, though this picture was taken before the crushing defeat - he hasn't been seen smiling since!) is not the first person at Stamford Squash Club to be beaten convincingly by Michael and will, no doubt, not be the last. Michael didn't let Rich get a point - yes, to you and me that's 27-0! Annihilated indeed. A term described in the dictionary rather well:a)To destroy completely b)To reduce to nonexistence c)To defeat decisively. The question is, who will be next? 
 December 2001 As a freshman Michael soon became the no.1 player at Trinity College and helped the team to win, for the third consecutive year, the National Intercollegiate Team Championship title. Winning all his matches with a perfect 13-0 dual record. He was named a First Team All American Fellow. College squash is big in the U.S.A. drawing crowds of 1,000 plus, watching the inter-college matches. In November 2001 Michael played in his first PSA tournament near New York. He won his two qualifying matches against world ranked players, and then in the last 16 of the main draw he lost against the Canadian no.3, and top 30 player in the world, Shahier Razik. |
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