No. 5 Stanford squash (3-1) will take on the No. 1 Harvard Crimson (4-0) at home on Jan. 19 at 5 p.m. Harvard enters Thursday’s game as the favorite, having won all four of its last matches against top teams, including Princeton, a team Stanford fell to earlier this year.

The Crimson have had previous success, with 16 national championship titles to their name, and four in the past four seasons. To capture a win on Thursday, Stanford will need to prepare for Harvard’s current undefeated players — juniors Alyssa Mehta and Sue Ann Yong and sophomore Sophie Mehta — and will look to its own undefeated player, freshman Casey Wong, who recently defeated Princeton’s No. 1 player Olivia Fletcher.

Meanwhile, Stanford will also look to capitalize on its home court advantage, especially since Harvard has never played on Stanford’s court before. A win for the Cardinal would move them one match closer to the best team in the nation.

Stanford continues its competitive home court schedule with two more matches this weekend against the No. 6 Yale Bulldogs on Saturday at noon and the No. 2 Penn Quakers on Sunday at noon.

Contact Julia Massaro at jmassaro ‘at’ stanford.edu.