W. Fencing's small roster has big potential

The women's fencing team is hoping that great things will come from its small roster. With only ten fencers and a schedule including several teams ranked nationally in the top ten, Penn anticipates a challenging season. "We have two main missions -- to improve last year's performance and work the newcomers into the program," Penn coach Dave Micahnik said. "We are in a bit of a rebuilding situation, and the Ivy League schools are generally the best in the country." Micahnik, who is entering his 25th year at the helm, does have three returning fencers from last year's 9-7 (3-3 Ivy) team which qualified for the NCAA Championships. Most notable is sophomore Kari Coley, who earned distinction as an honorable mention All-American last year with a ninth place finish in the epee in the national tournament. The Quakers will also have to deal with having only one home match all season, adding to the already-difficult schedule. Several weekends during the season include meets with four or five matches a day, such as the IFA Conference Championships at Cornell, held during the last weekend of February. "We'll see what kind of character we have. We could respond negatively or positively [to the schedule]," Micahnik said. "The year is compact and intense." "We're going to have to fight really hard," team captain Meredith Galto said. "We're a cohesive group, and if we have team spirit, we can pull off a few upsets." In collegiate women's fencing, each team competes with four epees and four foils. There are 16 bouts in each category, with each fencer facing each other fencer in her group. A team needs 17 points in a match to guarantee a victory. Fencing bouts take place on a 46 by 6.5 foot strip; controlling the distance between one's opponent and herself is a critical skill. The basic goal for a fencer is to get her opponent into a vulnerable position where she can be attacked and touches can be scored. "In a combat sport, personality has a big part to play in technique," Micahnik said. "[The keys are] proper balance, and noticing and reacting to your opponent's movements." The team began its year last weekend at the Penn State Open, which does not count toward regular season results. Penn sent only two epees and two foils to the event, with Margo Katz making the top 16. "The tournament is a training event," Micahnik said, explaining why Penn sent an abbreviated team to State College. "Some of our team has been sick and, some had four exams this week, and it's still the preseason." "We saw what we needed to improve on after taking a look at the bouts," junior Amy Hozer said. "We've been doing more drills in practice, making sure our matches are clean and that we have the basics down. We all have individual things we need to work on, and we help each other out in our practice bouts against each other." While the Quakers unfortunately have only one home match this year (February 7 vs. Princeton), Micahnik said fencing makes for a great spectator sport. "It's a beautiful sport to watch, and if it's done extremely well, it looks simple."