M. fencing falls to Quakers, loses sight of Ivy League title

"In short, it did not go well," sophomore foil Scott Sherman said. "I'd suggest focusing on the women and not mentioning us at all — there wasn't much newsworthy about it. We blew our shot at Ivies, and that's about all."

Sherman eloquently summarized Wednesday's men's fencing performance at the University of Pennsylvania. Despite an early lead, the favored Tigers fell to the Quakers' blade, 15-12. With the victory, Penn's record improved to 13-1 overall and 4-0 in the Ivy League, guaranteeing them at least part of this year's title.

"To be perfectly honest, we should have won quite easily," usually optimistic junor captain Soren Thomson said. "This was my most disappointing loss as a fencer at Princeton."

Yet playing the "could have, would have, should have" game is now a moot point as the Tigers seemed resigned to letting this year's Ivy title slip through their hands. What compounds the situation is the manner in which they lost.

Riding high going into the third rotation, the Tigers led the Quakers by a score of 10-8. But in the third rotation, Penn completely changed the direction of the match by winning 7 of the last 9 bouts. The usually strong Princeton foil squad faltered early, seemingly outmatched by the Quakers' Andy Radu and Steve Gavalas, both of whom turned in perfect 3-0 performances. The Tigers' foils posted an 8-1 record for the day, with their only win coming from Sherman. Still, the men were confident that sabre and epee would save the day.

Unfortunately for Princeton, sabre would end the day 4-5. Freshman Adam Boorstin posted a 1-2 record, while senior Mike Brosterman posted a 2-1 record. Junior James Wallen finished 1-2. The entire tournament rested on the backs of the epee squad.

"We were really relying on epee to win all three of their final bouts to put it away," Sherman said.

Things looked promising as Thomson finished his three bouts undefeated. He was the only Tiger undefeated on the day. Senior Mitch Slep and freshman Ben Soloman each lost one of their three bouts, enabling the Quakers to eek out a victory. For the past three years Penn has managed to win by a very narrow margin every time.

Yet there is more to this particular loss than a slightly worse record. The Quakers built upon their reputation for a lack of sportsmanship that of late seems to dominate everything they do from debating to basketball. While their campus police were able to prevent any motor oil from entering Weightman Gymnasium, they were unable to prevent Penn fencers from bringing dishonor to a sport whose very foundation is built upon honor and civility.

While the Tigers clearly lost this match for themselves, the effects of the Quakers' obscene gesturing and rude taunts were clearly felt by Princetonians normally unaccustomed to such actions.

"Unfortunately, Penn's tactics included some slightly unsportsmanlike yelling and gesturing, which, rather than motivating us to fence better, succeeded in completely shutting us down," Thomson said.

While they have next weekend off, the men will travel to New Haven Feb. 22 for a tri-meet against Harvard and Yale. The meet will mark the men's last Ivy opponents. Yet even with assumed victories at Yale, this year's dreams of a championship were deflated by Wednesday's loss.

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Penn will travel to Columbia that weekend to compete against both Columbia and Cornell. If they are able to defeat both the Lions and the Big Red, the Quakers will secure sole ownership of this year's Ivy crown.

Women's fencing soundly defeated Penn 17-10. Senior captain Mindy Rostal and freshman Jacqueline Leahy in foil, freshman Kira Hohensee in epee and senior Maura Coleman in sabre all finsihed the day undefeated.

"We were really ready for Penn," Coleman said.

While the women were ecstatic with the victory against the Quakers, the future of their season now rests in Penn's hands. The women now have to wait and see if the Quakers can step up and beat perennial favorite Columbia, thus securing for the Tigers a share of the Ivy League title. While the chances are certainly remote, Rostal argues, "stranger things have happened."