It's time for revenge.
The Penn women's fencing team has had its share of heartbreaking losses this season, and the Quakers have been waiting for the chance to redeem themselves.
The Intercollegiate Fencing Association championships this weekend at Vassar will give the Red and Blue that second shot.
Fourteen teams will be making the trip to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., including all Ivy League squads. Most imporantly for Penn, it will have a chance to get revenge against conference foes Yale, Princeton and Columbia -- three teams that handed the Quakers league losses.
"IFAs is retribution time," Penn captain Mindy Nguyen said. "It's time to tell Columbia or Princeton who... sucks."
Two of these defeat came by a hairbreadth 14-13 margin, leaving the Quakers two bout wins away from a 4-1 Ivy League record and a potential title. Such a close margin between wins and loses has left the Red and Blue 2-3 for the year in the Ivies -- a record that the entire team does not consider to reflect their skill or performance.
"Both of these losses were just flukes," Nguyen said. "When Penn is at its best, they can take down Princeton at its best and Columbia at its best."
Now, Penn has a chance to prove that it is ready to be at its best.
Last year, the Quakers lost to Yale during the regular season and then stomped them in the IFA tourney.
The IFAs are structured differently than other meets. Saturday will be solely individual competition, but unlike the common tournament in which each of the three players on a squad face each of the fencers on the other squad, this competition pits the "A" players of each team against each other and so on.
Penn, loaded with new freshmen talent, can take full advantage of this format.
"Our team is a lot deeper than other teams," Penn's Kimberly Linton said. "Anyone on our team can beat anyone on their teams."
On Sunday, the players who excelled in the first day of competition will be invited to the individual part of the meet.
Another of the Quakers' goals will also be defending a second-place sabre finish from last year's tourney.
A good performance in the IFAs will provide Penn a great opportunity to set right some of this season's shortcomings.
"You try to learn [from previous competitions,]" coach Dave Michanik said. "If we learned more about them, and they learned less about us then we will beat them."
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