Dangerous NYU may spoil M. Fencing trip to Brandeis

The Penn men's fencing team is currently undefeated and has its eye on winning the Ivy League title for the second consecutive year. But before competing in a string of meets with Ivy rivals Harvard, Princeton and Columbia, the Quakers will head to Brandeis this Saturday to do battle with MIT, Brown, Brandeis and fencing powerhouse New York University. Even though Brown is an Ivy League school, it does not participate in the Ivy League championship fencing round robin, which determines the league's top team. And although the Brandeis Multi-Meet will have no bearing on the Quakers' Ivy standing, it is not a meet to be taken lightly. "[Penn coach Dave Micahnik] wants us to be focused, because you never know what can happen," Penn sophomore sabre Jeff Lee said. "He wants us to come back with no losses, and we're going to have to try pretty hard to deliver." The Quakers anticipate that NYU will be their toughest opponent this weekend. The Violets boast an impressive roster that includes sophomore foilist Aleksander Nazarov, who placed 12th in the NCAA Championships last year, in addition to taking a bronze in last fall's Junior Olympics, and sophomore epeeist Gordon Singh, who finished second at last year's U.S. National Championships. Last year, the Quakers edged NYU in an extremely competitive 14-13 battle. While Penn junior foilist David Cohen acknowledged that facing NYU will be a challenge, he is up to the task. "We're a lot stronger than the people we're fencing," he said. MIT, Brown and Brandeis pose less of a threat to the Quakers. Last year, Penn swept both MIT and Brown by identically emphatic 20-7 margins. Cohen believes Penn's too-close-for-comfort win over Yale last Saturday lit a fire under the Quakers in practice this week. Although Penn beat the Elis 15-12, a majority of the bouts were close, and many of the Quakers were unhappy with their performances. "[Micahnik]'s been sitting down with us individually? and telling us to be focused," Cohen said. "We've been training really hard after last weekend." Penn's epeeists are especially eager to make a comeback after the Yale meet, in which they finished an uncharacteristic 2-7. Micahnik's epee squad, which he felt needed to "be talked firmly to about tactics" after last Saturday's meet, now seems in good shape. "We're warmed up now," sophomore epeeist Jim Benson said. "We shouldn't have a problem this weekend." The Quakers will be fencing without freshman foilist Yale Cohen, who will be competing for the Junior World Cup in Como, Italy. Cohen will be replaced by Penn senior captain David Liu, who fences both foil and sabre. The Brandeis Multi-Meet marks an approximate midpoint of the Quakers' season. "It's important because there are a lot of schools and it's a good percentage of our season in one day," David Cohen said.