Single point separates Fencing from sweep

Penn men's and women's fencers both showed different aspects of the word "team" this weekend at the MIT Multi Meet. The men's squad showed what teamwork meant, while the women provided an example of resilience.

The men's team went 3-1, defeating NYU, MIT and Boston College, while losing a heartbreaker to Brandeis, 14-13.

"We did a very good in job in the first three meets," senior team captain Michael Galligan said. "We really took care of business against inferior teams."

The women's team cleaned house, going undefeated on the day against those same four squads.

For the men's team, it was all about helping each other out. The epee team, without sophomore Ben Wieder, struggled today, but the other two weapons overall did a good job of covering.

"Generally when one weapon wasn't going so well, the other two would pick up the slack," Galligan said. "I think that really did happen today in the first three matches."

Galligan described the fourth match against Brandeis, however, as the one that "got away from us."

"Against Brandeis, I think we totally underestimated them a little bit, but they also fenced really well," Galligan said.

The women's team came off a relatively disappointing weekend last week at the Penn State Invitational. The epee team under-performed at Penn State, and the women came out believing that their two losses could have been closer. This week, however, was a complete turnaround.

"I think that the team bounced back pretty solidly," senior captain Katelyn Sherry said. "The epee team performed well. They were a lot more confident than they were at Penn State. Sabre and foil both pretty much cleaned up this weekend."

Coach Dave Micahnik said he saw improvement within the women's squad, but was not as pleased with the men.

The atmosphere at the meet this weekend was described as very loud, with many different teams there that Penn did not face. The Quakers, however, got a chance to check out the national champs, and Ivy League rivals, the Harvard Crimson.

And maybe that advance scouting will pay off as the Quakers will have the tall task of taking on the vaunted Ivy League competition at the Ivy Round Robin No. 1 next weekend.

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