Jan. 17, 2008

PHILADELPHIA, PA - The Pioneer women's saber squad was dominant on Sunday and went 9-0 against Johns Hopkins to lead the SHU women to a 16-11 victory over the Baltimore school.

In other matches held at Temple University, the team lost to perennial powers Northwestern 15-12, Duke 17-10, UNC 20-7 and Temple 20-7. The team's record now stands at 8-7 for the season.

"The saber squad was dominant against top teams on Sunday," commented head coach Dr. Tom Vrabel. "They did not lose a match and were strong the entire day."

The saber squad was led by sophomore squad captain Krista Bacci and freshman sensation Anna Hanley, who both posted records of 13-2 for the day. Bacci's season record is now a staggering 38-6 and Hanley is not far behind at 33-9. The squad's overall record for the meet at Temple was 32-13.

"The entire saber squad worked very hard over the Christmas break and it showed in their ability to compete at a very high level of performance during the long five match day," said Vrabel. "Krista and Anna have great chances to be first team all-league this year and they both should have good shots at qualifying for NCAA nationals come March."

While the saber squad fenced up to their potential, the epee squad fell off during the second half of the competition.

"We had a great opportunity to knock off a talented Duke team but for that to happen the epee squad would have had to have been at their best so that they could have complimented the saber squad," said Vrabel. "Unfortunately, they just could not get there on Sunday. Hopefully with a good week of hard work after classes resume the epee squad will get back to the form that they showed at Penn, Harvard and Yale and they can help us nail down many victories in league play".

The team is back in action on January 26 at Boston College in the first weekend of NEIFC matches.