Fencing Competes in Dual Meets at Brown University
February 05, 2007 | Fencing
Feb. 5, 2007
A day of six dual meets at Brown University on January 27 saw the men's fencing team post five wins and one loss while the women's team went 4-2. All but the match against the University of Florida were Northeast Fencing Conference meets and the men's 4-1 NFC record puts them in a strong position to take second place in the league this year.
Senior epeeist Alex Rios and sophomore sabreur Ian Griswold each posted a 12-3 record for the day, leading the men to their best conference start ever. "The men's team really came together today," commented coach Fadner. "Every squad contributed and every individual showed a lot of heart on the strip."
The most exciting match of the day was the women's 14-13 win over rival MIT. With only three foil bouts remaining to be fenced, the match score stood at BC 11- MIT 13. MIT needed a single win to clinch the match, while BC needed to sweep the final three bouts. To make matters worse, the foilists had taken only one of their first six bouts. Deanna Rakowsky squeaked out the first bout 5-4 to keep the Eagles' hopes alive. Samantha Pirk easily handled the next bout, beating her opponent 5-1. This left the match in the hands of junior co-captain Emily Harper, who was fully aware of how much hung on the outcome. Fencing with great discipline, Harper fenced to a 2-2 tie when regulation time expired, throwing the match into a one-minute, sudden-death overtime. As the clock ticked down, Emily showed incredible strip-presence, squeezing her opponent down to the end of the strip until she found the right moment to launch her attack. Her point arrived on target: final bout score 3-2 Harper.
