Harvard surprises W. Fencing when epee squad stumbles

The Penn women's fencing team's weekend got off to a rocky start when Harvard stunned the Quakers Saturday in the epee, 9-7, and handed the Red and Blue their second consecutive overall loss, 17-15. However, the Quakers rebounded against Ohio State and Northwestern, returning home with a two-meet winning streak. Entering the morning meet with Harvard, Penn coach Dave Micahnik anticipated the Crimson fencers to be far stronger in the foil event. Micahnik then spent much of his time at the match with the foil team, expecting the epee squad to win solo. Micahnik succeeded in rallying the foil squad, but the well-prepared Harvard foil team edged still Penn by a single match. Meanwhile, the epee fencers did not fare as well alone as Micahnik had hoped. The loss was by no means the end to the women's fencing season. In fact, it was just the first of three matches for the Quakers that day. "It is always disappointing when you lose a match within the Ivy League," Micahnik said. The team had to shift its focus to "taking down the two Midwestern teams." After bussing across Boston to Brandeis, Penn defeated Ohio State by a score of 10-6 in both the epee and the foil event. While team captain Megumi Sakae excelled with the heavy blade, freshman Tamara Hancock and sophomore Anastasia Gunzberg each compiled a perfect record in their four epee bouts. Later in the afternoon, Penn continued its winning ways by defeating Northwestern 22-10. While Micahnik knew his team would have no trouble in the foil event, he was particularly pleased with the 9-7 victory in the epee. The Wildcats had lost only once all season in epee before facing Penn. A perfect performance by Olivia Leon helped rally Penn to victory over an accomplished epee squad. But overall, Micahnik was not satisfied with the team's performance. "I would have liked to have said it's OK that we lost, but it's not," Micahnik said. "I wouldn't accept less than the best. I have too much respect for them."

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