Nov. 24, 2008

CAMBRIDGE, MA - The Pioneer men's fencing team started out a long weekend of competition at Harvard Friday night with matches against Ivy League power Harvard and Northeast Fencing Conference foe Tufts in Cambridge Friday evening. Sacred Heart lost to Harvard 17-10 but came back to reverse the score with a 17-10 win over Tufts.

Freshman saber sensation Marty Williams and foilist Jim Roberts led the way with 2-1 records. In the Tufts match, Williams went 3-0, epee squad captain Sean McGeveran went 2-0 and Roberts and epeeist Nate Quigley had 2-1 marks.

"This was the first time that we had at least ten wins against Harvard and this is very encouraging for us," said head coach Dr. Tom Vrabel. "Considering Henry Crocker (saber) was lost to us with a leg injury and Dan Convery-Zupan (foil) was also unavailable, we still did quite well."

The team started Saturday's action in the season's first Northeast Fencing Conference Meet at UNH in Durham, NH the next morning with a 23-4 win over Boston University. This was followed by an exciting 14-13 win over MIT, which was SHU's first-ever victory against this perennial power. The Pioneers kept rolling with a 20-7 win over host New Hampshire, then lost two close matches to Brown (16-11) and Brandeis (15-12).

"I am very pleased with our overall performance this weekend," said Vrabel. "Despite being very ill with the flu, Marty was a rock for us in saber. He really gutted it out and had an excellent 18-3 record."

"I was also very happy with the rest of the saber squad (38-25 on the weekend)," he continued. "Dan Miller stepped in to the B strip starting position and went 10-9. His two wins against MIT were crucial in our victory. Dan is a great athlete and could be a real stopper for us as his technique improves. CJ Fleck was also solid (10-11) and I look for him to get stronger as he takes better advantage of his reach advantage."

The epee squad also had a very successful weekend, amassing an overall 43-20 record. They were led by squad captain Sean McGeveran's 15-5 performance.

"Sean had a great weekend and was very competitive in the bouts that he lost," said Vrabel. "He does a fantastic job of focusing his squad and keeping them positive. Justin Dion (12-5) and Kyle Dee (9-6) continue to impress as well. Justin has jumped right in to a very important role as a freshman on this year's team and Kyle just keeps getting better every year. The epee team's impressive 8-1 performance against MIT was a big reason that we pulled that match out. They were very close to having a similar result against Brandeis, losing 4 bouts by one touch margins. If we had split those four bouts, we would have won that match, which would have been an incredible achievement for us. This epee squad is does not graduate anyone for the next two years and will be a very solid part of our team as we go forward."

Foil was led by a strong performance from team captain Jim Roberts (14-7). "Jim is an extremely hard worker and his strategy and technique is starting to catch up with his athleticism," said Vrabel. "To use a baseball analogy, Jim is evolving from a thrower to a pitcher. When he completes this transition, he has the physical talent to be competitive with anyone in collegiate fencing. We look forward to Jim and Convery-Zupan being a strong tandem once Dan returns to competition."

The team is next in action after Thanksgiving with a Dec. 5 match against Hunter College in Manhattan and a six-way meet against Penn State, NYU, Princeton, Harvard and Vassar at Vassar on Sat Dec. 6.