Coach Peter Robson was driving a rented Dodge Durango, one of two vehicles traveling together on the Merritt Parkway near New Haven, Conn., when an 86 year-old man drove onto the four-lane divided highway going in the wrong direction. Though Robson slowed to a near stop when he saw the headlights of the oncoming car, he was unable to avoid the accident. "Traffic was piling up behind him so he couldn't completely stop," said Athletic Director Peter Gooding. "The old man swerved once he realized his mistake and Peter [Robson] swerved and they both hit the center rail."
Though the Durango was badly damaged, the impact was not strong enough to deploy the airbags, according to Gooding.
Once student, Asad Haque '04, was injured in the accident with what appeared to be a bloody nose. The team took Haque to the Yale University Hospital and contacted his parents. "The people at the hospital said that it was just swollen, so I played the next morning not thinking that anything was wrong," he said. However, Haque visited a local nose specialist yesterday who then confirmed that Haque's nose is broken.
Haque competed in the tournament along with the rest of the team, which finished in 12th place.