W. Fencing slashed by No. 5 Princeton

As the Penn women's fencing team huddled in a pregame cheer in the corner of Weightman Gymnasium, the Princeton women's fencing team stared at them. "We don't need a pregame cheer, we can walk onto their court and beat them," Princeton freshman epee Kira Hohensee said. Last night, they were right. Of three Penn-Princeton matchups in two days, the Tigers recorded their one victory against the Quakers in women's fencing. The quicker Princeton squad defeated the No. 10 Quakers (13-1, 2-1 Ivy),17-12. The Tigers prevailed in all three weapons. Penn fell, 6-3, in both sabre and foil, while losing by its closest margin in epee, 5-4. "Our sabre team only recorded three points, and we needed to get into the seven or eight range to have a chance," Penn coach Dave Micahnik said. Senior Kimberly Linton led the Quakers, who finished with a 2-1 record at epee. Senior Christina Verigan also had a solid meet by posting a 2-1 record at sabre. While Penn's top seniors were able to win most of their bouts, they received little support from the rest of the lineup, which combined for only six victories. The surprise of the night came from freshman Christina Kaneshige in foil. With the rest of the team falling to Princeton's nationally recognized foil team, Kaneshige was able to record a 2-1 mark in three close bouts. "Princeton's foil was very strong, but Christina was able to have a solid performance that she can take into future meets," Micahnik said. After the meet was over, Penn's captain, Linton, presented an official antique trophy to Princeton captain Melinda Rostal. The trophy was created on the 50th anniversary of the exchange of Mettlach Stein -- the trophy given annually to the winner of the Penn-Princeton matchup on the men's side -- and is given to the winner of the women's meet. While the men were able to receive the mug, giving up the trophy was bittersweet for Linton. "I was proud that we had a solid showing against such a good team," Linton said, referring to Princeton's No. 5 national ranking at the beginning of the season. "But at the same time I wish we could have brought the trophy home." The loss will probably place the Quakers out of contention for the Ivy League title this year. With only two more Ivy meets remaining, the Quakers have to hope for Princeton and Harvard to lose their next two meets. Despite its elimination from the Ivy League pedestal, the Red and Blue will not let the loss taint what has been an outstanding season. "We have some holes to fill, but overall our girls are improving and learning to use defeats as a tool to get better," Micahnik said. "We give Princeton credit for being the better team and will move on." The competition will only get stiffer for the Quakers as they travel to Columbia next weekend for a five-team meet. Besides facing Ivy rivals Cornell and Columbia, the Quakers will fence against nationally ranked Penn State as well. "Our girls have faced some of the better teams in the Ivy League so they should be ready," Micahnik said. "We want to concentrate most on Columbia and Cornell to improve our Ivy standings as much as possible." The team will then have a weekend break before competing in the Intercollegiate Fencing Association championships in March.

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