M. Fencing: Two will enter, one will leave

Coming off an extraordinary weekend of play, the Penn men's fencing team is now preparing to face its greatest challenge of the season -- Princeton. The reigning Ivy League Champion Tigers (5-1, 1-0 Ivy League) visit the Quakers (10-2, 2-0) this Sunday at Hutchinson Gymnasium. The matchup pits the Ancient Eight's last two undefeated teams in a showdown that most likely will determine the league championship. Coming off a perfect 6-0 weekend, including a 24-3 rout of rival Harvard and a solid 17-10 victory over Yale -- in spite of the absence of Red and Blue sophomore foilist Yale Cohen -- the Quakers are bubbling with confidence. "We have a great foil squad and our sabre squad did very well last weekend at Yale and now has some confidence," Cohen said. "The epeeists are looking great in practice as well." Cohen missed the tournament and the meet at Yale, but did the team proud nonetheless, finishing 10th out of 100 in a World Cup event held in Italy. He had the best performance for any American in the under-20 tournament. Last season, Penn was dealt a 17-10 setback by Princeton in the Quakers' only Ivy League loss of the year. The Tigers went on to win the Ancient Eight title with a perfect 4-0 mark. Princeton has gained a top freshman epeeist, Soren Thompson, to improve on the group that decisively routed Penn, 8-1, a year ago. The Tigers enter this weekend's match with a 1-0 league record, having beaten Columbia last weekend. "If we can match them in sabre and epee than we should be able to win the match in foil," Penn coach Dave Micahnik said. A key change for the Quakers that has worked out perfectly so far was last weekend's switch of senior All-American David Cohen, Yale's older brother, from his usual foil to sabre. The change stabilized the previously struggling sabre squad, which finished 29-16 in tourney play over the weekend. At the same time, Penn's foilists continued their dominance despite Cohen's absence, going a staggering 41-4 against six foes last weekend. Freshman Jeff Breen has been promoted to the starting foilist squad to replace David Cohen. He joins senior Yaron Roth, who went undefeated in the tournament last Sunday, and the younger Cohen on the unit. "He is a very good left-hander who really brings balance to the squad," Yale Cohen said of his freshman teammate. The newcomer knows the pressure he will face in his first matchup against the archrival Tigers. "This is probably the most important meet of the year for us as we'd be guaranteed at least a tie of the league title [with a win]," Breen said. The match will determine more than the Ivy League title this season as the Quakers also look to regain the coveted Beerstein trophy, a rotating Penn-Princeton monument that is seeing its 51st year with this weekend's match. "We've trained hard all summer for this and we are better fencers this year than we were," Breen said. "And if we give it 100 percent, we will be fine."

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