Fencing: Late Wicas heroics shock Harvard

After losing twice last season to Harvard, including a defeat in the Vassar Duals, the men’s fencing team started its season in style last Saturday with a long-anticipated victory. Princeton defeated four of its five opponents, including a razor-thin 14-13 victory over the Ivy rival Crimson.

The men’s win over Harvard came down to the last bout. With the sabre squad winning 5-4 and foil falling by the same score, the match rested in the hands of Tiger sophomore epees Nate Sulat, Mike Elfassy and Graham Wicas.

The matchup between Wicas and one of the Crimson’s best epees was particularly intense.

“So we’re fencing, and it gets to be Graham against Harvard’s Benjamin Ungar,” Elfassy said. “Graham got second at the junior world championships a year ago, and Ungar got third the year before. All the foil and sabre guys got behind us and asked for our split at 4-4, and everybody realized that this is it. This is the bout for the match. The whole team’s watching, and the entire Harvard team’s behind Ungar, too. But fortunately, Graham pulled it out at the end, and we beat them by one touch.”

The epee squad outscored Harvard 5-4 behind Wicas’ heroics and a win apiece from Elfassy and Sulat.

“The win against Harvard was sick. It was the first match of the day, and we were fencing alright,” Elfassy said. “Nate and I both lost to Harvard’s No. 1 by one touch, so we were both pretty frustrated. It was just falling for Harvard that day. Fortunately, Graham was killing it.”

The men’s match against NYU proved to be just as challenging, with Princeton finally pulling out the 14-13 win. The foil squad — led by freshman Alexander Mills — soundly defeated the Violets 7-2, while Princeton’s sabres lost by the same score. The epeeists once again delivered in the clutch, riding senior Max Peck’s 3-0 outing to a 5-4 victory over NYU.

Sacred Heart and Vassar proved to be no match for Princeton. The men doubled Sacred Heart’s overall score, winning 18-9, and did not lose a single bout in the foil competition. The Vassar match was even more lopsided, as the Tigers trounced the host school 22-5 behind junior sabre and captain Thomas Abend’s 3-0 performance.

The women’s fencing team had a tougher time Saturday, going 2-3. Princeton lost 17-10 to both Harvard and Penn State. Temple proved too much for the Tigers as well, as Princeton fell, 16-11. The Owls dominated in the sabre, as freshman Bianca Cabrera was the sole Tiger to win a bout in that category. The two team victories that the Tiger women amassed, on the other hand, were both blowouts. The women took down NYU, 20-7, behind flawless performances in foil from freshman Lucile Jarry and sophomore Mina Zargham, as well as in the epee from senior Jasjit Bhinder, junior and captain Chandler Clay, and freshmen Eunice Chan and Susannah Scanlan. Princeton then defeated Vassar handily, 23-4.

Penn State, considered the top fencing program in the nation, demonstrated its dominance once again at the Vassar Duals. Princeton’s men fell 17-10, while the women suffered a brutal 21-6 defeat at the hands of the Nittany Lions. Some individual performances did stand out, however. Wicas, who won a bronze medal last year at the NCAA Championships, went undefeated Saturday, recording three wins apiece against Harvard and Penn State. Mills racked up an equally impressive stat line, going 8-1 on the day with his only loss coming to the Nittany Lions.

Though the Harvard match is not part of the Ivy League schedule, Princeton emerged as a serious contender for the Ivy title with the victory.

“The win doesn’t mean anything for league standings right now, but it definitely means a lot to beat them since they’re one of the better Ivy League teams,” Elfassy said.