Feb. 6, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; February 6, 2011 - The Nittany Lions were in Boston this weekend taking part in the Eric Sollee Invitational. The one-day event, hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, proved to be a great success for both the men's and women's fencing teams.
In the first round both teams met the host school, MIT. They were able to walk away with victories in every weapon besides the women's saber. The men's foil, which consisted of Rylan Delap, Michael El-Saleh and Daniel Gomez, swept their competition 9-0.
The second round put the Nittany Lions against the Eagles of Boston College. For the second time in the day the men's foil was able to out fence their opponents and walked away with a 9-0 record. Penn State won in every weapon except for the men's epee, falling to Boston College 5-4.
The Nittany Lions made a clean sweep of round three against the Bears of Brown and round four against the Bobcats of NYU. In both the women's saber and men's foil, the Bears were completely shut out losing 0-9. The Penn State men's and women's foil dominated the Bobcats, 9-0.
In their fifth and final round, the Judges of Brandeis fell to the Nittany Lions in all three weapons. The women's epee, featuring Kyra Swick, Margherita Guzzi and Alyssa Vongries, went 9-0.
Next up, select members of the men's and women's teams will travel to the Junior Olympics in Dallas, Texas. The event will take place over four days starting Feb 4, with competition beginning at 8 a.m. each day.