Dec. 3, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Nittany Lions had a great day of competitive action this Saturday, Dec. 3. Penn State hosted NYU, Vassar, Harvard, Princeton and Sacred Heart for a one-day event in the White Building. There were some excellent individual performances as well as a great team effort that led the men and women to an overall record of 5-0 for the day.
Coach Kaidanov was pleased with the results at the end of the day. He was especially proud to have defeated Princeton and Harvard, teams he considers to be "very good competition". The Nittany Lions out fenced both teams 4-2.
They also found great success against Sacred Heart whom the men and women's teams both beat 5-1, only dropping the men's epee. Most notably the Penn State women dominated the competition going 9-0 in the saber and 8-1 in both the epee and foil.
The men's team found similar success against Vassar defeating their opponents 9-0 in both the foil and saber and 7-2 in the epee. Overall Penn State went 6-0 against Vassar, which was their second clean sweep of the day, in addition to NYU.
Individually, team captain Margherita Guzzi-Vincenti had an outstanding day going 13-2. Only unable to defeat Emma Vaggo of Harvard and Katharine Holmes of Princeton, Guzzi-Vincenti continues to lead the team as one of their standout fencers. Freshman Alex Schneller, in his first year of collegiate action for the Nittany Lions, also had a tremendous day going 9-1 in the men's saber. Schneller dropped only one bout to Sacred Heart's Marty Williams.
Next up a select number of Nittany Lions will travel to Austin, Texas to compete in the Olympic Trials. The four-day event begins Fri, Dec. 9.