M. Fencing foils Princeton lead for Ivy title

With two out of three rounds over, things didn't look good for the Penn men's fencing team. The Quakers were down 10-8 to arch-rival Princeton and, with a share of the Ivy League title on the line, they needed to win six of their next nine bouts -- all without captain Yale Cohen, who was home sick with food poisoning. Before the round started, Penn huddled around its end of the strip, listening to senior epee Dan Borden. A fencer who didn't start until this year, Borden took the place of Penn's missing captain, rallying his teammates with words of encouragement. "I said that we're going to fight for every touch," Borden said. "I told them that we were going to win this no matter what. From the beginning, I told them, we had the crowd and the heart. Bottom line -- [Princeton] had no chance of winning." After a loss by freshman sabre Bill Caulin, freshman sabre Jeff Jorge stepped up to the strip. Jorge, a foil fencer who switched to sabre just two weeks ago, was subbed in for this final round in place of junior Chris Lvoff. He handily defeated the Tigers' best sabre fencer. "Five more," shouted Borden to his teammates. "When Jeff went in and won his sabre bout it gave us the most tremendous lift," Penn coach Dave Micahnik said. Next up was another freshman sabre, Mark Kindrachuk, who also recorded a win. The Quakers were clawing back at the Tigers. With foil and epee to go, Penn needed just four more wins. "Our strategy was that we needed one win in epee and a sweep in foil," Micahnik said. This was not an unreasonable goal, as the foil team had dominated all day, even without Cohen, going 5-1 up to that point. It was the one epee win that was going to be difficult -- the Quakers epee squad had yet to beat Princeton all day.

Nevertheless, the epees rose to the challenge, getting their needed victory even before their foil teammates, as Borden defeated Princeton senior Mitchell Slep, a previous All-Ivy selection. Borden took off his mask, shook his opponent's hand, and held up three fingers. Stephen Gavalas, a sophomore foil who replaced Cohen, stepped up in his captain's absence. After winning his first two bouts of the day, he notched a third victory in the final round. Micahnik pumped one fist in the air, signaling a crucial victory. Two more to go. Penn junior Andy Radu took the strip next. With a 4-3 lead, just one touch away from a victory, he tumbled to the ground while retreating, but was not seriously hurt. Radu retook the strip and surrendered a touch. At the same time on the epee strip, Penn freshman Mike Sanders recorded a huge win, defeating the nation's top junior epee, Ben Solomon. Penn was just one touch away from a victory and the Ancient Eight title. Radu scored a one-light touch and the Quakers mobbed the strip, celebrating the comeback 15-12 win. Micahnik now pumped both of fists in the air --he was an Ivy League champion. "We lost a lot of close bouts in the first rounds. We got outfought," Borden said. "Bottom line, we weren't going to lose this. We smelled the Ivy League title on the line, and when you smell something that good you just want to grab it and taste it."

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