M. Fencing's quest turned away by dominant Princeton sabres

Much like Inigo Montoya looking for the man with six fingers on his left hand, the Penn men's fencing team stormed the Princeton castle with sword in hand to slay its lifelong enemy. Unlike The Princess Bride hero, however, the Quakers were unable to inflict the fatal wound and save the day. Instead, the host Tigers took a big bite out of Penn's Ivy title hopes, winning by a combined score of 22-5. The Quakers fell to 6-3 overall, 1-2 in the Ivy League. Princeton may be the best all-around team in the Ivy League. With the win, the Tigers improved to 10-2 overall, 2-0 in the league. Princeton dominated the match, winning all three of the weapon classes convincingly. Their sabres shut out Penn's sabres, winning all nine of the bouts. Unable to post victories for the Quakers were sophomores Alex Platt, Jeff Allen, and Russ Boling, junior John Demas and All-Ivy junior Sandy Agashiwala, who had only lost two Ivy bouts this season prior to Princeton. The sabres' poor performance set an early tone to the match. "It was like an avalanche coming and there was no way to stem the tide," Penn coach Dave Micahnik said. "Early indications told me that it wasn't going to be a vintage Penn evening." Unable to stop the relentless Tigers attack, the Penn epees looked equally disappointing and were only able to win one of their nine bouts. Princeton freshman Jason Burrell stuck it to the usually dependable Penn seniors, Alex Edelman and Ed Cleaver. Only sophomore John Wright was able to eke out a victory for the visitors. The Princeton foils were unable to dominate as easily as their teammates. While those fencing foil for the Red and Blue lost 5-4, they did so without freshman Cliff Bayer, who missed his second straight meet. Last weekend, Bayer was out with an injured knee. On Wednesday, Bayer was unable to participate because he is representing the United States in a World Cup championship in Mudling, Austria. The foil leadership of senior captain Adam Brown, who won only one bout, was not enough to garner his team a victory. In the loss, Micahnik called on freshmen Rick Bernstein, who won two bouts, James Lyons and David Liu. "With everybody present, healthy and fencing well, we're a tough team," Micahnik said. "But, in all honesty, Princeton just kicked our our butts." The Quakers want to put Wednesday's embarrassment behind them, and focus on upcoming events. This weekend, Micahnik will be taking a few members of the Penn team up to Massachusetts to participate in the National Junior Olympics. Freshmen foils Lyons and Liu, as well as sophomore sabres Jeff Allen and Russ Boling, will make the trip. When Micahnik returns, he will begin to focus his attention on recruiting. The next official competition will take place next weekend. The Quakers will be hosting national powerhouse Penn State, Rutgers and Ivy-rival Columbia. The big home match, being hyped as "The Balestra at the Palestra," although the competition will be at Hutchinson Gymnasium, will close out the regular season competition for the men.