No Ivy crown this season for W. Fencing

This could have been a weekend for the Penn women's fencing team to make a run at the Ivy title with No.9 Columbia and Cornell coming to town.

And the Quakers thought they were on the verge of achieving their goal when they led Columbia with only three bouts remaining.

Columbia, however, won all three bouts.

So much for drama -- and the Ivy League title.

"The [Ivy matches] are the ones that are the tensest and the most important in the end," Penn junior sabreist Christina Verigan said.

After leading the Lions' 13-11, the Quakers lost to Columbia 14-13.

Though the Red and Blue failed to gain a critical victory, it was no fault of their sabre squad.

Much like last year, Penn's sabres dominated their opponents, ripping Columbia, 8-1.

"This is the second year in a row that the sabres did a number on Columbia," Penn coach Dave Michanik said.

The strong efforts of the Red and Blue's sabres were offset by the powerful performances by Columbia's eppe squad, which was 7-2, and foil squad, which finished 6-3.

Aside from suffering a loss to Columbia Saturday, Penn fell to No. 1 St. John's, 19-8 and No. 2 Penn State, 21-6. The Red and Blue's only victory came in a 24-3 rout of Ivy foe Cornell.

"We just decided that we were not going to let another Ivy drop," Penn senior co-captain Mindy Nguyen said. "We took out all our frustrations and fought as hard as we could to take out Cornell."

Penn's steamrolling of Cornell balanced the scale of the weekend's Ivy play. The victory left the Quakers 2-3 in the Ivy League and 13-6 for the season.

The Quakers very easily could have two more wins, as two of their three league losses came by 14-13 margins. Penn also lost to Princeton, 14-13.

"I did not expect to lose to Columbia," Nguyen said. "I thought Princeton and Columbia were ours flat out. Princeton and Columbia got lucky."

Penn freshman foilist Emanuelle Humblet had a bittersweet weekend for the Quakers. While Humblet dropped one of the final three matches to Columbia, Humblet also chalked up her team-leading 41st victory.

Lauren Staudinger is second with 39 wins, Nguyen ranks third on the Quakers with 37 victories and Verigan fourth win 32.

Next weekend, the team will have a chance to redeem itself in the International Fencing Association (IFA) championships.

While its Ivy title hopes have been erased, the Quakers will have a second crack at Yale, Princeton and Columbia, who will each be competing next weekend in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

"IFAs are a long grueling meet," sophomore eppeist Liz Kriedman said. "They are a great tune up for the regionals."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.