While the men's fencing team competed at Jadwin Gym against Harvard and Yale Saturday, its true fate was out of its hands. Princeton's fate was being fought out in New York City between Columbia and Penn.
With a 16-11 loss to Columbia on January 31, the Tigers (9-2 overall, 3-1 Ivy) had all but lost hope of winning their second consecutive Ivy title. A very unlikely victory by Penn, whom Princeton beat 15-12 on Dec. 7, over Columbia was the Tigers' only chance. After beating Harvard and Yale, the unsuspecting Tigers heard the news: Penn defeated Columbia 16-11; Princeton and Columbia would share the Ivy crown.
Shocker
"We were really surprised to win the Ivy title," senior foil captain Graham Brooks said.
The same could not be said for the women's fencing team (13-4 overall, 3-2 Ivy), however. Its fate was in its own hands and Princeton failed to capitalize on the opportunity. The Tigers had to defeat Yale Saturday to secure a three-way tie with Columbia and Yale for the Ivy championship. Despite a valiant effort, the women fell to Yale 19-13.
"Yale is really tough," sophomore epee Nicole Polanichka said. "We knew it would be hard to beat them but it wouldn't be impossible. The fact that we won over ten bouts against them proves that it wasn't impossible. I'm happy with how we did even though we lost."
Epee stars
Much of the success that the women did have against Yale can be attributed to the epee squad. Freshman Matilde Acerra was undefeated (4-0) and Kristina Hurme was three and one.
Acerra and Hurme were also successful against Harvard Saturday. Both went 4-0 in the women's team's 19-13 victory over the Crimson.
"We were pretty confident we would beat (Harvard)," Polanichka said.
The continued success of underclassmen such as Acerra and Hurme shows the great potential of the women's team. With no juniors or seniors, The Tigers are more a team of the future than of the present.
Like the women, the men had more trouble with Yale than Harvard. Even so, the Princeton men beat the Elis, 17-10.
Rocky
"We have been training hard recently and expected things to go well," Brooks said.
Princeton dominated the epee event against Yale, winning eight of nine bouts. Junior Marco Acerra (3-0), sophomore Jason Burrell (2-0) and freshman Steve Caputo (1-0) were undefeated.
The victory over Yale was also highlighted by the performance of the foil squad. Yale's foil team includes Olympian Peter Devine who fenced at the 1996 Atlanta games. Though the foil was four and five against Yale, all three members that fenced Yale – senior Darren Raphael, and freshmen Peter Rosen and Dustin Reagan – beat the Olympian.
Domino effect
Princeton's success over Devine carried over to the competition against Harvard. Raphael, Rosen and Reagan all went 2-0 and sophomore Aaron Filner went 1-0. Overall the men's team clinched the victory in the second round of nine bouts, defeating Harvard 16-11.
The results from Saturday certainly overshadowed Sunday's competitions in which the men faced Vassar and Yeshiva and the women fenced Vassar and Farleigh Dickinson. The men easily defeated Vassar 22-5 and Yeshiva 24-3, while the women toppled Vassar 24-8 and FDU 25-7.
With their dual meet schedule finished, both teams travel to Cambridge, Mass. next Saturday where they will face many of the best teams in the nation at the Intercollegiate Fencing Assciation Championships.
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