M. Fencing can't avenge last year's loss to Tigers

Despite a strong foil team, led by the nationally-ranked sophomore Cliff Bayer, the Penn men's fencing team still continues to struggle because of the weakness of its epee team. It is just "not happening" in that weapon, according to Penn coach Dave Micahnik. The combined record for the epee team this past weekend was 8-19. The team was represented by two freshmen, Charles Hamann and Michael Leiseca, and a junior, John Wright. Micahnik is having a hard time deciding who should represent Penn for this weapon, as no one is jumping to the front as number one. The team made its season debut at Princeton this past weekend, meeting not only the Tigers, but also North Carolina and Rutgers. Though victorious against both the Tar Heels and the Scarlett Knights, each out-of-division opponents, Penn once again fell to Ivy League rival Princeton. The Quakers came into this meet with the hopes of redeeming last year's crushing loss to Princeton. Last season the Tigers, the 1996 league champions, met Penn and defeated them by a devastating 22-5. In the debacle, the Quakers were completely swept in the saber and managed to win only two bouts in epee and three in foil. Although this year Penn was unable to pay back Princeton for that defeat, they were able to make up for the embarrassing point disparity of a year ago. The match was close at 15-12, with most of Penn's points being earned by the strength of its foil team. "At the moment, Princeton is setting the benchmark for season," said Micahnik. "They had a championship team last year, and they did not loose many [fencers] this year." Micahnik went to New Jersey with hopes of beating the powerful Ivy competitor, but also with expectations to defeat the other two competitors in the quad meet. Penn did manage to soundly defeat both UNC (19-8) and Rutgers (16-11). Penn made a strong showing against UNC, with their foil team defeating the Tar Heals 9-0. This kind of loss though is atypical for UNC. "They were relatively inexperienced," said Micahnik. "From their style you could tell they were not veterans." Some freshmen made their presence known at their first intercollegiate meet. One such underclassman, Michael Golia, a saber, managed to come out a very respectable 8-1 record in his matches for the day. Another freshman, David Cohen (foil) also made a good showing, ending the weekend with a 7-2 record. "They got one and we didn't," said Micahnik of the Princeton loss. "After the meet that is all it adds up to, but there are a lot more meets to come." Some students will forgo some of their winter break to improve their epee. The Quakers hope the extra January practices will pay off and give them a couple extra points against future opponents.