Men's fencing squeaks by, women fall against visiting Penn

Basketball isn't the only sport in which Penn competes with Princeton. Both the men's and women's fencing teams had their hands full Wednesday night with the visiting Quakers. Though the women lost, 18-9, the men prevailed by the width of a blade, 14-13.

The Tiger men (4-2 overall, 1-1 Ivy League) won thanks largely to their epee squad, consisting of sophomore Fenil Ghodadra, sophomore Benjamin Solomon, and freshman Gregory Haislip. The trio won, 6-3, in their third of the competition.

"It was a tough match, which means every bout counts," Ghodadra said.

Princeton also pulled out a 5-4 win in sabre despite dropping the foil competition, 6-3. Quaker senior Andrew Radu went 3-0 in foil to foil the Tigers' hopes at a sweep of the three events. With the loss, their first in the Ivies, Penn dropped to 12-5 overall and 2-1 in the conference.

"Especially important was [sophomore] Owen Cornwall, who went 3-0 in his bouts," Ghodadra said. "Sabre has been struggling throughout the year, so this was a very strong showing for them."

Unfortunately, the women's fencing squad (5-2, 1-2) did not enjoy the same success in their match against undefeated Penn (16-0, 3-0), losing handily, 18-9. The win was the 14th in a row for the Quaker women's team.

"Penn is traditionally a very physical school," senior sabre Laura Baker said. "They recruit heavily and they are particularly deep in sabre."

The Tiger women pulled out a close 5-4 win in foil behind freshman Sara Jew-Lim, junior Inhwa Song, and sophomore Jacqueline Leahy.

The epee and sabre sides of the team, though, could not help the foil trio. Epee lost, 6-3, and sabre dropped their bouts, 8-1.

Despite the loss, there were positive signs for Princeton.

"Women's sabre didn't do as well as I'd hoped they would," Baker said, but [freshman] Mina Morova did well. She is picking up quickly on the U.S. style of play."

Morova, despite losing twice, was the only Princeton fencer to record a win in the sabre competition.

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Both the men and women will break from action for a week before hosting Harvard, Yale, and Duke on Feb. 21 in Dillon Gym. The Duke match, though, will take a back seat to the Harvard-Yale-Princeton rivalry.

"Total domination," Baker predicted about her team's performance in that H-Y-P meet.

That event comes just one week before the Intercollegiate Fencing Association championships on Feb. 28 in Providence, R.I.