Irish, three others fall to M. Fencing

Penn improves to 9-1 with weekend sweep At its last Ivy League dual meet, the Penn men's fencing team fell one bout short of a victory against Yale. The Quakers were determined not to allow that to happen again when they competed against Harvard Saturday in Cambridge, Mass. The Red and Blue got the one win that eluded them against the Elis and more, easily defeating the Crimson, 18-9. The Quakers excelled in a format that was a little unusual, according to Penn coach Dave Micahnik. "They ran one weapon at a time, instead of all three simultaneously," Micahnik said. "And our sabres were able to jump out 6-3 before anyone else got on, which I think gave us a big advantage." Epees Ed Cleaver, Nathan Anderson and Sanjiv Agashiwala all went undefeated to lead Penn against Harvard. Despite the team's easy victory, Cleaver thought there was room for improvement. "We were a little too overconfident, and I think we could have done better," he said. The Quakers' success carried over to its tournament against MIT, Yeshiva, Ohio State and Notre Dame Sunday. Penn went undefeated in its four matches to improve its record to 9-1. Penn's greatest victory came against fencing powerhouse Notre Dame, as the Quakers won by one bout, 14-13. Penn was led by the strong performance of foilist Adam Brown, who lost only one bout in the four meets he competed in. "Notre Dame had some good people, but we were really pumped up," said Cleaver, who went 2-1 against Notre Dame. Penn was surprised at the presence of one Harvard foil fighter, Greg Chang, who took a year off to train in Paris. Chang was responsible for both of Penn's losses in the foil, but Micahnik said he was surprised Chang was not even better. Ohio State also did little to challenge the Quakers, who disposed of the Buckeyes, 20-7. Adam Brown again went undefeated, losing only four touches. "Ohio State started out strongly," Micahnik said. "But we got them going away." Penn summarily beat both Yeshiva and MIT by identical scores of 23-4. Micahnik said he was surprised MIT did not put up a stronger fight. Against an inexperienced Yeshiva squad, Penn sat five starters to give opportunities to their younger fencers, such as Jit Seng Oon and Roland Backes. "It was the first time in my memory that we beat Notre Dame," Micahnik said.