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Teams: Women's Squash: Team
Overview
 The Tufts University women's squash program has a rich thirty-year history. The team's schedule includes New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) rivals and Ivy League powerhouses. Last year, the team finished with a 10-12 record and a #22 finish at the Howe Cup under Coaches Kate Bayard and Orla O'Doherty.
Doug Eng returns this year to direct the program in his twelfth season. Tariq Mohammed joins the team in his first year after coming from the Harvard programs. The team is destined to climb back up the collegiate rankings.
The hard-working Jumbos practice at Tufts, Belmont Hill and Harvard. In recent years the team also has made January trips Bermuda, Bahamas, Grand Cayman and Canada. The team and prepare with on-court pressure drilling, tactical situational games, and technical work. Non-racquet and off-court practice includes ghosting, interval training, strength and conditioning, and flexibility training. The team also works with mental toughness training and tactical court awareness exercises. The holistic training philosophy for the Jumbos involves emotional, tactical/cognitive, physical, and technical training. The Tufts program is centered on complete development of the student-athlete and a healthy relationship with communication between players and coaches.
Tufts squash players train both on and off the court to be future leaders. Recent graduates have gone on to graduate, business and medical schools, as well as successful professional and business careers. Over the past several seasons, the team has had more scholar-athletes than any other team in the country.
For the 2006-2007 season, the women's team features a fine core of returning players. Senior co-captains Jules Avrutin, and Liz Thys return to lead the team. Juniors Micela Leis and Rebecca Rice will be strong contributors to the team. Also returning are sophomore stars Victoria Barba and Jessica Herrmann. They will be joined by entering first-year students Katie Stork, Laura Curren and Stefanie Marx who bring experience and strong playing skills to excel on the team.
Goals for the team in 2006-2007 include a ranking of top 16 and a return to Kurtz Division at the Howe Cup Director of Squash, Doug Eng holds three degrees from Tufts (BSChE 1984, MS in 1987 and PhD in 1990), and an EdD in sport pedagogy/psychology from Boston University. He was the assistant coach at Tufts in 1992-93 and has taught and coached tennis and squash for nearly twenty years. Eng holds certifications from the United States Squash Racquets Association (Level II) and the Professional Squash Association. He has worked with dozens of regionally and nationally ranked players. He has served on the board of several different regional and national organizations and committees in squash and tennis. Eng lectures and writes on sport sciences for squash and tennis organizations and magazines, and is an expert on sport psychology and coaching theory.
Coach Eng underwent the elite High Performance Coaching Program with the United States Tennis Association. He has won several including two national awards in the past year for his professional contributions. Over the past two years, he was also head coach for the women's tennis team and then the men's tennis team.
Associate Coach Tariq Mohammed played #1 for Bowdoin College. Since then he has taught squash at the Complete Squash Camps at Harvard University and at Philips Andover. Last year he was the volunteer assistant at Harvard and worked with mainly the women's team. Coach Mohammed will be primarily responsible for the team's daily practices and matches.
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