M. Fencing anxious to face P'ton

The Penn men's fencing team started its season just over two weeks ago and is now one win away from a share of the Ivy title. But before the Quakers get a chance to claim the title against Princeton next week, they'll have to take on a host of weaker squads this Saturday at Hutchinson Gymnasium. Nevertheless, the Quakers (8-1, 3-0 Ivy) seem to be looking past this weekend's multi-meet. "It's a warmup for Princeton," junior foil Andrew Radu said. "That's all I'm worried about right now." Penn coach Dave Micahnik is quick to note that it is dangerous to overlook any meet in fencing. "You can get your butt kicked in a warmup too," he said. "If you want to rehearse, you better rehearse winning." Rutgers will undoubtedly be the team that gives the Quakers the most trouble on Saturday. The Scarlet Knights are currently 4-4, yet they have impressive wins over quality teams -- NYU and Yale. "Rutgers has good fencers in all weapons," Micahnik said. "They have a better balance on paper, but fortunately we fence on copper, not paper." Rutgers' foil squad figures to be the Knights' strongest, anchored by sophomore Jesse Schibilia -- 2001 New Jersey High School Fencer of the Year. "Jesse is my teammate at the New York Athletic Club," foil Yale Cohen said. "He always gives us some trouble." Radu also acknowledges Schibilia's talent, but is quick to note that both he and Cohen went undefeated against two much better fencers last weekend at Yale. "Schibilia is good," said. "But compared to the two German National Team members we beat last week... I mean come on." The Scarlet Knights also have an epee team that will challenge the Quakers. "Their epee team can take a lot of bouts from us," Radu said. Freshman epee Mike Sanders is friendly with several members of Rutgers' talented group of epees. "They're nice and they're really, really good," Sanders said. "It could go either way." Micahnik is particularly worried about one Rutgers epee -- freshman Oba Simmons. "He's very fast and very aggressive," Micahnik said. "He has great exuberance. That means that we need to hit him before he builds up speed and finds an opening." Micahnik believes that the pivotal weapon will be sabre. "The key to the meet will be sabre," Micahnik said. "Without a decent performance by them we might lose." Junior foil Jeff Breen believes that Penn will win not only because of physical talent but also due to its intellectual edge on the Scarlet Knights. "Fencing is a mental game," Breen said. "Rutgers guys aren't the brightest guys in the world. They're all athletes." Aside from Rutgers, the Quakers will also take on Drew, Case Western, and Cleveland State for the first time in the Quakers' history. None of them pose much of a threat to the Red and Blue, after easily knocking off Harvard and Yale last weekend. "They'll have some good individuals," Radu said. "But they won't have nine good individuals like we do." The team is looking forward to this weekend's easier schedule after its last few meets against some of the nation's best teams. "This weekend should be fun," Radu said. "After two days of grueling, terrifying Ivy League competition last weekend, it's nice to fence some of these teams that won't be competitive with us overall."

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