Little goes right for W. Fencing at Temple

To say that the final dual meet of the season for the Penn women's fencing team began inauspiciously would be an understatement. It was an absolute disaster. After waking up at the crack of dawn, the Quakers met in Penn's fencing room only to discover that there was no bus going to Temple's McGonigle Hall, the site of the multi-meet. When the team finally arrived at the North Philadelphia campus, they had limited time to warm up for the stellar competition that they were about to face -- national powerhouses such as Columbia, Cornell, St. John's and defending national champion Penn State. "The bus was an hour late; we were missing teammates; we had no time to get into the gym to prepare ourselves physically and mentally for the day," senior captain Heba Abdulla said. But the Quakers would not use this as an excuse. "There are no excuses," Penn coach Dave Micahnik said. "On the scoresheet, there's no column for excuse." To begin the day, the Red and Blue took the strip against Ivy League rival Columbia. The match was close through the first two rounds, but the Lions pulled away in the final round, besting the Quakers, 17-10. The Penn sabre squad was able to defeat Columbia, 5-4, behind two victories apiece from Abdulla and freshman Christina Verigan. But Columbia's foilists and epeeists were too strong for the Red and Blue as the Quakers fell in both weapons, 7-2 and 6-3, respectively. After the defeat, however, Penn bounced back to defeat Cornell in its final Ivy League dual meet of the season. While the sabres lost by a slight 5-4 margin, Penn's foilists and epeeists regrouped to lead the Quakers to victory. Penn's epee squad defeated the Big Red, 5-4, behind freshman Kim Linton and sophomore Mindy Nguyen, who won two bouts apiece. Penn's foilists, led by the strong performance of freshman Lauren Staudinger and senior Margo Katz -- who each went undefeated -- handed Cornell a 7-2 loss. This victory was especially important to the seniors because it was the last time in their careers they would fence Ancient Eight opponents. "It's always a good feeling to go undefeated, especially in a match that's close," Katz said. "And in this special circumstance, it feels really good because it's not only the last Ivy match of the season, but of my fencing career." The win over Cornell ended an Ivy season in which the Quakers finished with a mediocre 2-3 record. "I'm disappointed that we didn't do better," Micahnik said. "It's not what I would call a banner year." To end the day, Penn went up against Penn State and St. John's, two of the best fencing programs in the nation. The Red and Blue fell to the Nittany Lions, the five-time defending national champions, by a 24-3 margin as Staudinger, Linton and senior Sandra Yens picked up the lone victories for the Quakers. In the final match of the day, Penn was defeated by St. John's, 18-9. The Red Storm were led to victory by their powerful epee squad that was able to shut out the Quakers, 9-0, behind two-time epee national champion Arlene Stevens. The Penn sabres also came up short, falling 6-3 to a very strong sabre team. Penn sophomore Abby Lifter led the way, winning two of her three bouts. Penn's foil squad, however, was able to come away with a 6-3 win in their final dual meet of the regular season. Staudinger won all three of her bouts, and senior Amy Hozer won two out of three, including a 5-4 win in the final fencing bout of her career. Although Penn was only able to come away with one victory on the day, the Quakers realize that the level of competition was extremely tough. They also realize that everything comes down to next weekend, when they will fence in the IFA playoffs. "Everything that we've worked and trained for will matter the most this Saturday," Abdulla said.

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