W. Fencing stays atop Ivies with win at Princeton; men defeated

Led by a phenomenal sabre squad, the Penn women's fencing team extended its win streak to 14 by defeating Princeton, 18-9, to remain undefeated in the Ivy League.

"To be honest, the women have been so dominate all season long, that it doesn't surprise me that they won," Penn coach Dave Michanik said. "Our team is very strong."

Strong may even be an understatement, as this season the women have defeated all of their opponents by an average of 14.6 bouts per meet.

What is particularly amazing about last night's win, though, is that it was largely due to the flawless performance of the team's all- freshman sabre squad.

"The sabre team is all freshmen but very skilled -- it is a major infusion of talented youths," Michanik said.

This talent was clearly evident last night, contributing to an 8-1 victory over the Tigers.

Freshman sabre Annika Eiremo won all three of her bouts, improving her Ivy League record to 9-0, and her overall record to an astonishing 41-1.

Fellow rookie sabre Cassandra Frey went 3-0, maintaining her perfect 9-0 Ivy League record, and improving her overall record to 33-9.

Freshman Katelyn Sherry won two of her three bouts, improving to 38-4 overall and 7-2 in the Ivy League.

Thanks to the efforts of these three rookies, the women's fencing team is now one step closer to winning its first Ivy League championship in five years.

"The women are very excited about what's going on," Michanik said. "They go out there and shoulder the challenge, handling it with a positive and optimistic attitude."

Unfortunately, the Quakers' dominance over the Tigers was limited to the women's side.

The men lost in a painfully close meet, 14-13, ending their eight-game winning streak.

"We thought we had a good shot at winning on both sides, and we almost did," Michanik said.

Like last week's meet against Rutgers, the outcome of the Penn-Princeton meet came down to the final bout. Unlike last week, however, the Quakers had a clear opportunity to win it all early on.

On more than one occasion, the Quakers were up by four points, but failed to pull out a win.

"There's really no excuse," Michanik said. "It was all decided in the middle of the meet, when we could have gotten the win but didn't."

It seemed as though experience, or lack thereof, may have played a role in the loss.

"If you look at our active roster, you'll see there's only one senior so it was really an experience factor," Michanik said. "Some people got caught up with being in the lead, got a big head, and lost it."

The perennially strong foil squad went 6-3, thanks to senior Andrew Radu, who won all three of his bouts.

Radu's efforts, however, weren't enough this time. The men's sabre and epee teams lost 4-5 and 3-6, respectively.

The loss to the Tigers drops the Quakers' Ivy record to 2-1, and their overall record to 10-3.

"The men's side has to go out there and fight for their wins --there's not as much of a margin for error as with the women," Michanik said. "But we've still got a very good team. We just need to work harder and think smarter."

Men Princeton 14, PENN 13

Sabre: Princeton 5, PENN 4

Foil: PENN 6, Princeton 3

Epee: Princeton 6, PENN 3

Women

PENN 18, Princeton 9

Sabre: PENN 8, Princeton 1

Foil: Princeton 5, PENN 4

Epee: PENN 6, Princeton 3

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