W. Fencing clinches Ivy title with win over Lions

The Penn women's fencing team had already clinched a tie for the Ivy League championship, exceeded expectations for this season and reached all of its preseason goals. Going into its final two regular season matches Saturday, however, the team wanted more. A win at Columbia would have meant outright bragging rights in the Ivy League, and a win against Penn State would have meant the upset of a national powerhouse. Going into the Columbia half of the meet, the Quakers weren't sure what to expect. Columbia was fairly inexperienced, yet unlike most teams, the Lions did have an epee team last year, hinting at the possibility of a challenge in that category. Even though the Lions didn't pose as much of a threat as Harvard or Yale, they did beat Princeton, which has a respectable team this season. With emotion and talent on its side, however, Penn jumped out to an early lead and crushed Columbia, 21-11. The foil squad took control right from the start and supported the team tremendously, coasting to a 13-3 victory with an outstanding 4-0 performance by junior co-captain Megumi Sakae. "We thought we were the better team," coach Dave Micahnik said. "They were inexperienced on foil – their most experienced fencer is a freshman. And that fencer went 1-3 against us." On the flip side, the usually dominant epee squad ran into an experienced Columbia team but managed to come out 8-8. The Quakers won the tiebreaker with a six-touch margin. Penn fencers Anastasia Gunzburg and Liz Cornfield both led the epee squad, going 3-1. At the end of the Columbia match, the Quakers again let out a lot of emotion, leaving them somewhat drained for the Penn State match yet to come. The defending national champion Nittany Lions have four members ranked in the top ten nationally. For Penn to win this last match of the season and go undefeated would be truly exceptional. Unfortunately, the combination of Penn State's relentless power and all the emotion Penn had exhausted led to the Quakers' only loss of the season. Last year, the Quakers were crushed by the Nittany Lions, but this year Penn put up much more of a fight. As been the case for most of the season, the epee squad lead the team. But it was only able to tie Penn State 8-8 and lost on touches. Gunzburg, who has consistently been producing winning numbers for the Quakers, again led the squad, going 3-1. "Penn State was a lot tougher," Gunzburg said. "I was really worried about it. However, we put up a good fight." The foil squad ran into some top-rated talent. Penn State fencer Olga Kalinovskaya, from the Ukraine, went undefeated in bouts and was only touched once. Despite Penn's lack of success, the Quakers did emerge with a close 19-13 loss. "A lot of bouts were lost 5-4 [in touches], and could have gone either way," co-captain Sarah Johns said. "Two touches were the difference between my 1-3 record and not a 3-1 record." A number of bouts ended in similar fashion. Penn State took advantage of these victories and began to pull away in the middle of the match. Micahnik thought his team had the ability to win, however. "It was a matter of concentration and belief to pull it off," he said. Unfortunately, Penn's concentration and emotion had been primarily spent during the Columbia match. "It's not unusual to lose to Penn State," Cornfield said, "but we thought we had a good chance if we worked really hard." With the regular season now over, the team feels it has achieved more than what was expected of it. The two main team goals were achieved, by having a winning season and winning the Ivy League. With two fencers going to the Junior Olympics in San Jose, California, and the regional team tournament at the University of North Carolina yet to come, look for Penn to make a national impression. For now, the women fencers can rest, assured that the Maestro Csiszar Women's All-Ivy trophy (named after the former Penn coach) will remain in Weightman Hall for the second straight year.