M. Fencing racing towards an Ivy ring

If one could envision a perfect Ivy League season for the Penn men's fencing team, it would probably include wins over Harvard, Yale and Princeton. After this weekend's play, the Quakers are two-thirds of the way toward accomplishing this goal. On Saturday, Penn (10-2, 2-0 Ivy League) traveled to New Haven, Conn., and behind an impressive effort by epeeists Charles Hamman and Scott Eriksen, the Quakers defeated the Elis, 17-10. Both Hamman, a senior captain, and Eriksen, a junior, had perfect 3-0 days for the Red and Blue, leading the epees to an 8-1 victory. The sabres went 5-4, highlighted by senior David Cohen's 2-1 mark. Cohen has switched weapons from his usual foil position to help the team. Penn coach Dave Micahnik, who lauded the senior's ability to adapt, said the change was permanent since Penn's sabres had been the team's achilles heel this season. The foilists struggled against their strong Elis counterparts, posting a 4-5 mark without sophomore sensation Yale Cohen, David's younger brother. Cohen missed the weekend's action due to a tournament in Italy, in which he finished 10th in a World Cup event. "It's a wonderful thing for him to have done so well," Micahnik said. "And it didn't cost us a bit." The foilists surged back the next day in the M.I.T. multi-meet in Cambridge, Mass. They led the team to a 5-0 record on the day, including a 24-3 pounding of the Crimson. Senior foilist Yaron Roth went undefeated on Saturday, as the foilists went 41-4 in the five matches. "[Roth] is the kind of fencer that is a trump card, you can put him out there with the match on the line," Micahnik said. Penn's epee and sabre squads also had successful days, going 34-11 and 29-16, respectively, in wins over Brandeis, Harvard Boston College, Brown and N.Y.U. The sabres, after starting the season poorly, have picked it up in the latter portion of the season as seen by the convincing wins in last weekend's competition. "Sabre is looking very promising and has pulled together after a rough start," Roth said. The Quakers now sit atop the Ancient Eight Standings heading into this weekend's showdown with Princeton. "We should win this if we fence as well as we did this weekend," Roth said.

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