Jan. 31, 2008

BOSTON, MA - At the first meet of the New England Intercollegiate Fencing Conference (NEIFC) season, the Sacred Heart women's fencing team defeated MIT 14-13, Dartmouth 18-9, and Smith 24-3 while losing to Brandeis 15-12, Brown, 19-8 and Vassar 19-8.

"This was the best first day result ever for our team in the conference," said head coach Dr. Tom Vrabel. "Each time out we seem to reach another milestone. This time it was our first win ever against MIT, who is a perennial power in the league. We also lost a close one to a strong Brandeis team 15-12. Many of our freshmen are starting to mature and gain confidence. I look for an even better result when we close out league competition in two weeks at Wellesley."

The saber squad once again led the way for the Pioneers. Krista Bacci and Anna Hanley are in great position to earn all league honors as they both finished the day with 16-2 marks.

"Krista and Anna continue to be the class of any competition they are in," said Dr. Vrabel.

"They also have different styles in their games and this further confuses opponents. If they fence as well at Wellesley they should both be first team all league, which will be a great accomplishment for the program."

Bacci was a First Team All-Conference selection last year so she would be the first repeating all league fencer for SHU.

"The saber women know that they have to be next to flawless for our team to win against good competition this season", said Vrabel. "This is where the emergence of Kayla Cronin has been so important to us."

Despite starting slowly against Vassar, Cronin came on strong going 2-1 against Brandeis and 3-0 against MIT. "Kayla's development has been very exciting to watch. As her confidence and experience grow I expect her to be fencing consistently at the same high level as Krista and Anna in the near future."

In addition to the strong showing of the saber squad, Mary Dannegger and Allison Ratis also had strong performances, going 10-7 on the day.

"The epee squad knows that they also have to win in order for us to have a chance at victory this year," comments Vrabel. "With Mary and Alli leading the way epee did a great job and won the key bouts to put us over the top against MIT."

The team is back in action on Sunday morning a for a 10:00 AM start against Stevens Tech in Hoboken, NJ.