Jan. 12, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State Nittany Lions dominated the competition in their second and final home event of the season. The men's team went 5-0 for the second consecutive NCAA meet, and the women's team went 5-1.
The Nittany Lion's first dual of the day was against UNC. The men's team had an outstanding performance and took down the Tar Heels 26-1, led by the epee and foil teams which both went 9-0. The women's team defeated UNC by a score of 18-9, led by the saber team which went 9-0.
In Penn State's second dual of the day the Lions took on Columbia. The men's team once again won with ease by a score of 22-5. However, the women's team was handed their only loss of the day with a score of 12-15. This marks the second year in a row that the Penn State women have lost to Columbia, after last year's 13-14 squeaker. The Columbia women ended the day undefeated.
The third dual of the day put Penn State against UPenn. It was the men's toughest competition, but an impressive performance resulted in a 20-7 win. The women's team beat the Quakers by a score of 17-10, led by a dominating 9-0 saber performance. Penn State men and women handed UPenn their only loss of the day.
The Penn State men then went on to easily defeat Drew by a score of 22-5, and the women by a score of 25-2. The women then faced Temple, and defeated the Owls by a score of 20-7. In the final dual of the day the Nittany Lion men cruised to a 25-2 victory over Haverford, and the women boasted a 21-6 performance.
Throughout the duals there were many individual Nittany Lions that had very successful performances. Former National Champion Margherita Guzzi-Vincenti finished the day with an undefeated record of 15-0. Senior Olympian Daniel Gomez-Tanamachi led the men's foil team with a record of 8-0, followed by two-time All-American David Willette's 7-0 record. The women's foil team was led by freshman Clarisse Luminet who had a 12-2 record at the end of the duals.
The men's saber team ended the day with an outstanding record of 41-4. The team was led by freshman Shaul Gordon who had a 8-1 record, and sophomore Alex Schneller who had a 7-0 record. The women's saber team found success as well throughout the duals, and ended the day with a record of 44-10. Team captain Jessica Russo went 14-4 on the day, as did her teammate Elizabeth Rapp. Nicole Glon built on her successful season with a record of 11-1.
The Nittany Lions will travel to Queens, N.Y. in two weeks to take on Duke, St. John's, Princeton, Temple, and UPenn in their third NCAA meet of the season.