After Wednesday night’s loss to Trinity, the men’s squash team is hoping to recover when it faces Navy this weekend and Princeton next week.

So far this season, the Midshipmen (19–5) have lost to Princeton, Penn and Dartmouth — the latter two the Bulldogs (8–1, 3–0 Ivy) have beaten.

“By no means are we taking Navy lightly,” Sharyar Aziz ’10 said. “We know that they are a weaker team and that it gives us an opportunity to work on things for Princeton next Saturday.”

Navy is currently ranked No. 14 in the country, while Yale rose to No. 2 in a College Squash Association midseason poll released on Thursday.

Next Saturday’s match against Princeton will be the most important match of the Elis’ season, Rusty Feldman ’10 said.

“Whoever wins the Princeton match will more likely than not win the Ivy Championship,” Feldman said. “Harvard isn’t too much of a threat to either of us.”

Princeton (5–1, 2–0 Ivy) fell by a score of 4–5 to Rochester, a team the Bulldogs beat earlier this month, 6–3.

“If we win against Princeton, it will be due to the depth of our team,” Feldman said. “The top of Princeton’s lineup is amazing, but so is the bottom of ours. The middle matches will be key. And who knows? Maybe they’ll surprise us at the bottom or we could surprise them at the top.”

According to Aziz, the team’s goals have always been to make a run at Trinity and to beat Princeton.

Wednesday’s loss to the Bantams handed the Elis’ their first loss of the season. But rather than be discouraged, the Bulldogs are hoping to use the match as a motivator.

“We can take the [Trinity] match and use it as inspiration over the next four weeks,” Mike Maruca ’11 said. “And if keep we it up, we will even get to come back and get another shot at them on our courts. We know we can make it close.”

The Bulldogs could get that second chance at the College Squash Association National Championships, which are held from Feb. 19 to 21.

“We know we will have our work cut out for us,” Aziz said. “[Wednesday’s match] was a good indicator of where we could be, but also that we’re not there yet. We’re capable of getting another chance at them, and if it goes according to plan, we’ll be in the finals with Trinity.”

The Elis take on Navy in Arlington, Md., on Saturday and travel to Princeton on Jan. 30.