M. Fencers dual in New England

Penn's foil squad hopes to match a solid effort from one week ago. Looking to rebound from a narrow defeat last Friday, the Penn men's fencing team hits the road for a weekend of competition. Tonight, the team opens its Ivy League season in New Haven, Conn., against Yale. After the match, the Quakers continue heading north to Boston. On Sunday, they will compete in a meet at Brandeis, where they are also scheduled to meet New York University and North Carolina. The foil team hopes to match its solid performance from a week ago against St John's, but faces a much stronger foil team in Yale. Much like Penn (0-1), Yale has added pivotal freshman recruits, including Peter Devine, a United States Olympic Team member. The Quakers will look to fellow Olympian Cliff Bayer, senior captain Adam Harris, and James Lyons to stifle the Elis' foils. Despite a sub-par performance from both the sabre and epee squads in the opening match of the season, both squads are expected to bounce back and provide the Red and Blue with important victories. Neither the sabres nor the epees for Yale are as strong as the St. John's team that Penn faced last week. Both should respond after a tough week of practice with Penn coach Dave Micahnik. "We had physically challenging workouts where we primarily went over some of the principles of mobility, balance and continuity of actions," said Micahnik. Don't expect Micahnik to make too many changes to the starting lineup on Friday. On Sunday, however, he may take advantage of the round-robin format and make some substitutions in order to give younger fencers collegiate match experience. A year ago, Yale defeated Penn by a narrow 14-13 margin. However, both teams have a new look. Both Yale and Penn's strength in foil has improved with their Olympic additions. The loss of three-time All-American and All-Ivy sabre George Kalmar places more pressure on juniors Sanjiv Agashiwala and John Demas and sophomores Alex Platt and Jeff Allen. Having more than three fencers per squad constitutes the depth and balance Micahnik is looking for to bring him his ninth Ivy League title in his tenure as Quakers coach. "I'm looking for that key person I can bring in for the clutch situation and know that he will be up for the bout," Micahnik said. Tonight's match against Yale opens the Ivy season for the Quakers. Yale has a record of 3-1, including 1-0 in the league. Their only loss was against St. John's. "The main objective every year is to win the league. This league has a lot of balance, and so we are going to be in every meet," Micahnik said. On Sunday, the Penn will compete in a non-conference invitational meet at Brandeis. Penn is not entirely unfamiliar with their opposition. Brandeis coach Bill Shipman was an assistant at Penn. The Quakers also defeated UNC last year in Princeton.