Feb. 11, 2007

FAIRFIELD, CT - In the culmination of their dual meet season the men's fencing team went 3-3 in action at Tufts on Saturday and St. John's on Sunday. Led by Dan Convery-Zupan's excellent 10-1 performance on Saturday the Pioneers beat Boston University 19-8, Tufts 18-9 and University of New Hampshire 15-12 while losing to UMASS 16-11.

"The foil squad was strong today and led our effort with a 25-8 mark" commented head coach Dr. Tom Vrabel.

Dan Convery-Zupan was dominant and despite a severely pinched nerve in his neck Luc Bernacki gutted out an impressive 8-3 performance. Nick Bentley also starred for the foil squad with a 7-4 mark.

"It was great to see the epee team come back to form on Saturday" said coach Vrabel. "Their 26-10 effort is a great confidence booster going in to the league championship tournament".

Charles Thompson led the way with a 10-2 effort and was closely followed by freshmen Brendan Sielaff and Kyle Dee with 8-4 marks.

"Kyle has truly been remarkable" said coach Vrabel. "Kyle moved over from foil mid season and has rapidly picked up his new weapon. I have rarely seen someone excel as well at on the job training as Kyle has. Maybe his being in the honors program has something to do with it. If he continues to improve as he has over the past month I see no reason why Kyle will not be contending for the A strip epee position next year".

The team finsished the New England Fencing Conference league campaign with a 4-5 record. Dan Convery-Zupan went 20-6 in league action and is in contention for all-league honors.

The fencers closed out their dual meet season with losses to Rutgers 18-9 and St. John's 22-5 in action at St. John's on Sunday. The team is back in action on February 24 in their league tournament at MIT.