Revenge is always fun but rarely easy.
Last season, the Princeton men's fencing team handed Penn its first Ivy League loss by the narrowest of margins, winning 14-13 in the depths of Princeton's Jadwin Gym.
This year, coming off a 6-1 weekend, the Quakers (12-1, 1-1 Ivy) have a chance to return the favor when they take on Princeton (5-1, 1-0) this afternoon at Weightman Hall. The Tigers enter as the only undefeated team remaining in Ivy League competition.
But coach Dave Micahnik has high hopes for at least one of his weapons going into this critical matchup of the young season.
"If we fence well, we should be able to win the foil, but in other areas they have some good fencers."
The Penn women's team will also be in action this afternoon. The women have struggled in league competition, losing to Harvard and Yale, but have gone a perfect 11-0 in their non-conference schedule.
Princeton (6-3, 1-1) and Temple (16-2) visit for the women's competition this afternoon, giving the Quakers a chance to halt their losing streak against Ivy foes and continue its tear against teams outside the Ancient Eight.
"I am optimistic about Temple," Micahnik said. "But Princeton is another story. They're good up and down the line.
"I am optimistic though. We can win."
Both Penn teams will certainly have momentum on their side after each swept the MIT Multi-meet last weekend. On the way, the Quakers defeated the host Beavers, Brandeis, North Carolina and Brown -- a non-conference opponent in the world of fencing.
It was a long but successful day for Penn, which was competing in its second all-day meet of the weekend.
"The women had a physically hard day," Micahnik said. "But competitively, they were pretty much in control all day long."
The men didn't have it so easy, as they defeated the Judges, 14-13, with Steve Gavalas' 4-0 foil win in the last match of the day sealing the team win.
The day before, the teams defeated Boston College and NYU but were overmatched by Harvard, which beat the men and the women by identical 18-9 scores.
This result was not a surprise, according to Micahnik.
"They are a very good team, and we just didn't match up well enough against them," the 31-year veteran said.
While the women will have a lot of difficulty catching 3-0 Harvard, a win for the men this afternoon would put them into a tie with Columbia.
They would then have an opportunity to pull ahead of the Lions in a meet scheduled Saturday at Temple.
And that possibility, combined with the revenge factor against the Tigers, should create a pretty motivated Penn squad.
Sportswriter Josh Wheeling contributed to this report.
