Foilists give M. Fencing a win

Penn - 14 Princeton - 13

The Penn-Princeton basketball game was anticlimactic, as the Quakers cruised to a 27-point victory.

Just two floors below the basketball court, the Penn-Princeton men's fencing meet was anything but.

With the Quakers and Tigers tied at 13 heading into the last bout, Penn sophomore Jeff Breen strided onto the strip.

On the other side was Princeton's Eric Stodola, Breen's longtime friend and teammate for the last four years on the Liberty Fencing Club.

Breen struck quickly, jumping out to a two-blow lead before Stodola tied it at three.

"I always end up going up at the beginning -- then he catches up," Breen said. "And then from there, it's a flip of a coin."

But just as he had done two weeks ago against Ohio State, Breen refocused after the bout was tied and got the next two touches.

Victory, Penn.

Breen's effort capped off another stellar effort by the foilists, who swept their share of the competition, 9-0.

The Princeton foilists "fenced very well that day," Breen said. "I wasn't too on, but fortunately I was able to fence hard enough that I could pull off three wins."

The other two-thirds of the Red and Blue did not fare so well.

The sabres lost, 7-2, and the epees fell, 6-3, giving the Tigers a 13-5 edge going into the foil bouts.

Penn seniors epee Jim Benson and sabre Dan Vincent recorded impressive victories over Matt Fitzergerald and Ed Chou, both of whom were first team All-Ivy selections last year. Vincent's two wins comprised the aggregate for the Quakers in sabre.

"Dan probably should have won the bout that he lost," Penn coach Dave Micahnik said. "I thought that with a little more confidence the sabres probably could have had two more bouts.

"If you're talking about the epee squad, it's a veteran team. They've fenced some brilliant bouts, and then they've fenced some what-is-it's."

Fortunately, the sabre and epee teams gathered just enough points to allow the foil squad of Breen, sophomore Andy Radu and junior Yale Cohen to pull off yet another heroic finish.

On the season, the three foilists have an impressive combined record of 101-6.

"We're just that overpowering," Cohen said. "The way that we train together, I think we work very well as a cohesive group. We just roll through opponents."

This is the third 14-13 victory this season for the Quakers, who beat Ohio State and North Carolina by the same margin in January.

"I'm very confident if we get down to the last foil bout for all the marbles," Micahnik said. "I like 14-13 a lot better than 13-14."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.