After what has been a lackluster season for the Lions, Columbia’s squash program hoped to find success this past weekend as it took on both Dartmouth and Harvard at home. In the end, both the men’s and women’s teams found mixed success as they proved dominant against Dartmouth, but faltered at the prowess of reigning national champion Harvard. The results of the weekend leave their national championship tournament fate in limbo, as both the men’s and women’s programs will likely need wins against Cornell this Saturday for a chance to compete for collegiate squash’s most coveted prize.

Sam Gordon has become a key player on the Columbia women’s soccer team, accumulating almost 2,000 minutes of playtime in her first two seasons. But off the field, Sam has been significantly involved in another sport: women’s football. After a video of her playing football as a kid went viral, Sam has become a leading advocate for equal opportunities for women in football. In the first episode of “A Look at the Lions,” Caleb Dye talks with Sam about her involvement in girl’s football and the many opportunities that she has had because of her advocacy.

In this episode of Lions’ Play, Spectator’s sports podcast, sports staff writer Caleb Dye talks to fans at Columbia’s football game against Wagner College to find out why they show up to games and how sports help the campus community.

Despite Columbia squash’s youth—the team played its first varsity match in 2010—it has attracted top talent from all over the world. An exemplar of the program’s breadth is graduating senior James Wyatt. Wyatt has played an important role in moving the program forward, both as a member of the 2020 team that won the program’s first national title with the Hoehn Cup, and this year, when he led the team to No. 4 in the country.

Women’s tennis closed out its season with two matches this past weekend. On Friday night, the team played its final home match, where it honored its seniors and delivered an impressive 4-2 victory against Penn. However, the Lions saw a very different outcome on Sunday, suffering a 4-0 loss to Princeton.

Columbia women’s tennis was unable to find success during Ivy League play this past weekend. The Lions suffered defeat at the hands of both Harvard and Dartmouth, bringing the team to a total of seven consecutive losses.

After qualifying to compete in the College Squash Association National Championship for the top eight teams in the nation, Columbia’s squash teams hoped to finish their seasons by winning the most coveted prizes in college squash: the Potter Cup for the men’s squad and the Howe Cup for the women’s squad. In the end, the Lions were unable to snag the top prizes with the men finishing fourth and the women finishing eighth.

After finishing off the regular season, Columbia squash is preparing to compete at the upcoming national tournament.

Squash resumed play in the second half of the season with a packed schedule, as the men’s and women’s teams have both played five matches since ringing in the new year.

In a busy weekend for Columbia’s squash teams—which faced Drexel University on Friday and Cornell on Sunday—the women’s team came out victorious with a 5-4 victory in both competitions, while the men’s team came back from a rough start to win against Drexel but suffered a narrow 5-4 loss to Cornell.