The 6th-ranked University of Pennsylvania men's fencing team has scored the biggest upset of the weekend, knocking off in-state rival and top-ranked Penn State 17-10 (at the Princeton Multi-Meet). Penn held a narrow 5-4 edge in sabre and PSU enjoyed the same slim margin in epee – but the Quakers scored the deciding win in foil, 8-1. Of note is the absence of Penn State two-time All-America foilist Nick Chinman, who has not been fencing today – along with highly-regarded freshman foilist Miles Chamley-Watson, who is competing this weekend in Paris at a World Cup event (Columbia's Kurt Getz and Notre Dame's Gerek Meinhardt also are at that event). Chinman and Chamley-Watson could have made a difference in the final outcome, but they would have needed to combine for at least four wins in their six bouts (four more wins would have given PSU a 14-13 victory).
A check of the scoresheets shows that the other top Penn State men's fencers – sabreist Daniel Bak, foilist Samuel Perkins and epeeist James Moody – all were in action today versus Penn, but they combined for only a 4-5 record (Bak and Perkins were 1-2, Moody 2-1).
Bak (3rd at the '08 NCAAs) dropped bouts to a pair of fencers with NCAA Tournament experience, losing 5-4 to Andrew Bielen (10th at '07 NCAAs) and 5-2 to Jon Berkowsky (11th at '08 NCAAs). Perkins was knocked off by a pair of freshmen, dropping a 5-1 bout to Vidur Kapur before losing 4-3 to Alex Simmons. Moody did manage two wins, but his 5-4 loss to 2008 NCAA participant Ben Weider provided a two-point swing.
The top-ranked Penn State women avoided the upset against #9 Penn, with a comfortable 21-6 win.
Other team scores from the final three rounds at Princeton will be posted on the blog later.