M. Fencing rebounds, slays Crimson

The Quakers rebounded from their recent loss to MIT by thrashing Harvard at Temple on Saturday. The Penn men's fencing team does not take defeat lightly. After MIT laid waste to the Quakers' bid for an undefeated season in a tough 15-12 battle last Sunday, Penn (9-1, 2-0 Ivy League) took revenge on Harvard and crushed the Crimson 24-3 at Saturday's meet at Temple. "We knew we could beat [Harvard] but we knew we had to take them seriously," Penn sophomore Jim Benson said. "[MIT] was a wake-up call that even teams that aren't so great we have to take seriously." Eight out of the 10 Quakers fencers who fenced on Saturday went undefeated for the day, and many of Penn's victories were won by impressive scores of 5-1 and 5-0. Senior captain David Liu emphasized that even though the Quakers won by a landslide, their bouts were closely contested. "People wanted to win," Liu said. "It's not like we beat them and slacked off." Penn's sabre squad finished the day with a perfect 9-0 record. The Quakers' epeeists, Mike Golia and Daniel Vincent, won all three of their bouts in 5-0 shutouts. The Penn foilists also dominated the competition, finishing with an 8-1 record on the day, while the epeeists recorded a 7-2 finish. Though Penn coach Dave Micahnik was satisfied with the Quakers' fencing, he emphasized the team's constant need for improvement. "We have to raise the standard," he said. "You can't fence eased up or confused. You have to be on top of every touch and most of the team was." One reason for the dominance of the Quakers at Saturday's meet may be that the Crimson fencers are still adjusting to their new coach, Peter Brand. "A year from now, he'll put his mark on," Micahnik said. "They'll be good." Brand knows that it is a difficult transition for a team to go through when it gets a new coach. He claimed, however that his Crimson are doing a lot of "recruiting and rebuilding" this year. Team adjustments aside, Brand was not pleased with the Crimson's performance. "[The men's team] didn't seem like they were psychologically ready to compete today," he said. "Hopefully, things will improve." And the Crimson do have potential -- that much is clear. "They were all pretty talented, but none were particularly difficult," Penn's Scott Eriksen said. While Penn may have cruised this past weekend, Micahnik and his squad know they won't always win so convincingly. The Quakers' easy meets are over for a while. In pursuit of their second consecutive Ancient Eight title, Penn will head to Ivy League powerhouse Princeton tomorrow night.

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