Contact: Pete LaFleur (editor@collegefencing360.com)
Sunday's action at the Temple Invitational (Nov. 27, 2011) saw the men's matches go to form, based on the national rankings. #2 St. John's went 3-0 ... #4 Penn State was 2-1 (with a 13-14 loss to PSU) ... and #7 Princeton posted a 14-13 win over #8 Duke for a 1-2 record.
Four of the six men's matches were decided by 14-13 final scores, along with two comfortable wins by St. John's (17-10 vs. Princeton; 20-7 vs. Duke).
Penn State foilist David Willette
Penn State sophomore foilists David Willette (the 2010 NCAA runner-up) won all nine of his bouts, while three others went 8-1: St. John's junior epeeist Marat Israelian ('10 NCAA champ), SJU All-America sophomore sabreist Sean Buckley, and Princeton freshman sabreist Phil Dershwitz.
(Note: A handful of top fencers did not compete at Temple, with those elite competitors including 2010 NCAA sabre champ Daryl Homer of St. John's ... 2009 NCAA sabre champ Aleksander Ochocki of Penn State ... and PSU two-time NCAA foil semifinalist Miles Chamley-Watson).
The following rundown of the Temple Invitational men's competition is provided courtesy of CollegeFencing 360 (note: headshot size varies based on current website bio's – it's hard to imagine some of them being any smaller ... will try to swap-in larger images).
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#2 ST. JOHN'S – 3-0 (51-30 ... MF 16-11 ... ME 17-10 ... MS 18-9)
#2 St. John's def. #4 Penn State, 14-13 (MF 2-7 ... ME 5-4 ... MS 7-2)
#2 St. John's def. #7 Princeton, 17-10 (MF 7-2 ... ME 5-4 ... MS 5-4)
#2 St. John's def. #8 Duke, 20-7 (MF 7-2 ... ME 7-2 ... MS 6-3)
The Red Storm men swept three top opponents with balance across the weapons, totaling 16-18 wins in all three (sabre 18, epee 17, foil 16) ... Despite the absence of Homer, the SJU men's sabreists topped all three of their opponents (6-3 vs. Duke, 5-4 Princeton and 7-2 Penn State) – led by a 15-3 combined showing by All-Americans Sean Buckley (8-1) and Alejandro Rojas (7-2). ... Junior Marat Israelian – the 2010 NCAA men's epee champion – fenced sparingly in late January at the NYU Duals and St. John's Super Cup (reportedly due to injury), but he returned to college fencing at Temple with an impressive 8-1 record. ... Israelian's return solidifies the SJU men's epeeists as one of the nation's top weapon units, with junior All-American Nicholas Vomero (5th at '10 NCAAs) and sophomore multi-weapon threat Adam Watson rounding out the solid trio (Watson placed 15th at the '10 NCAAs in foil but has fenced on various national epee teams).
St. John's sabreist Sean BuckleyFinal SJU Records
Men's Foil: Wildred Curioso 6-3 ... Eli Schenkel 6-3 ... Max Blitzer 4-5
M-Epee: Marat Israelian 8-1...Adam Watson 6-3...Nich. Vomero 3-2...Andrew Dobbie 0-4
Men's Sabre: Sean Buckley 8-1 ... Alejandro Rojas 7-2 ... Daniel Tobin 3-6
#4 PENN STATE – 2-1 (41-40 ... MF 21-6 ... ME 11-16 ... MS 9-18)
#2 St. John's def. #4 Penn State, 14-13 (MF 2-7 ... ME 5-4 ... MS 7-2)
#4 Penn State def. #7 Princeton, 14-13 (MF 6-3 ... ME 4-5 ... MS 4-5)
#4 Penn State def. #8 Duke, 14-13 (MF 8-1 ... ME 3-6 ... MS 3-6)
Penn State sabreist Adrian Bak• PSU vs. #7 Princeton (14-13) – The Tigers finished with narrow edges (5-4) in epee and sabre, but it was not enough to overcome Penn State's 6-3 foil margin. ... Freshman sabreist Adrian Bak (Franklin Lakes, N.J.) led the way early on, beating Robert Stone (5-4) and three-time NCAA entrant John Stogin (5-0) while losing 2-5 to top newcomer Phil Dershwitz ... Penn State ended up sweeping Stogin, with a 5-3 win by senior Bobby Thompson (Portland, Ore.) and a 5-2 victory from sophomore Nicholas DePinto (Califon, N.J.). ... Princeton ended up with the sabre margin, thanks to a couple more wins from Dershwitz (5-3 vs. Thompson. 5-0 DePinto) and Stone's pair of victories (5-3 vs. Thompson, 5-2 DePinto) ... Willette (Lafayette, Calif.) got off to a strong start in the foil round, beating Robert Malcolm (5-2), two-time All-American Adam Mills (5-4) and David Mandle (5-2). ... Gomez (Mexico City, Mexico) also topped Mandle (5-3) and Malcolm (5-2) while dropping a 2-5 bout vs. Mills. ... Freshman Jeremy Goldstein (Westport, Conn.) added a key 5-4 win over Malcolm (also 4-5 vs. Mills, 3-5 Mandle). ... Another freshman, epeeist Anthony Green (Stamford, Conn.), went 2-1 against a veteran Princeton group – defeating the sophomore duo of Ed Kelley (5-3) and All-American Jonathan Yergler (5-4) while losing to another All-American, Mike Elfassy (3-5). ... Penn State scratched out a couple other epee wins – by freshman Samuel Zucker (Silver Spring, Md.), a 5-4 winner over Yergler, and senior Samuel Larsen (5-2 vs. Kelly) – to earn the final 14-13 margin ... Zucker dropped his bouts against Elfassy (4-5) and Kelly (1-5) while Larsen lost to Elfassy (3-4) and Yergler (2-5).
• PSU vs. #2 St. John's (14-13 win for Red Storm; see recap above) – Willette's sweep led a 7-2 showing by the Nittany Lions foilists (Gomez and Goldstein were 2-1) ... The PSU epeeists swept freshman Andrew Dobbie, with Larsen (State College, Pa.) adding a noteworthy win over Adam Watson (5-4). ... Sabre proved to be the decisive weapon (7-2 for SJU), with Thompson beating Daniel Tobin (5-0) and Bak besting All-American Alejandro Rojas (5-3).
Final PSU Records
Men's Foil – David Willette 9-0 ... Daniel Gomez 7-2 ... Jeremy Goldstein 5-4
M-Epee–Anthony Green 4-5...Samuel Larsen 4-5...Mitchell Culler 2-3...Samuel Zucker 1-3
Men's Sabre – Adrian Bak 6-3 ... Bobby Thompson 2-7 ... Nicholas DePinto 1-8
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#7 PRINCETON – 1-2 (37-44 ... MF 10-17 ... ME 13-14 ... MS 14-13)
#2 St. John's def. #7 Princeton, 17-10 (MF 7-2 ... ME 5-4 ... MS 5-4)
#4 Penn State def. #7 Princeton, 14-13 (MF 6-3 ... ME 4-5 ... MS 4-5)
#7 Princeton def. #8 Duke, 14-13 (MF 5-4 ... ME 4-5 ... MS 5-4)
Princeton sabreist Phil Dershwitz
The Tigers split a pair of 14-13 decisions, with freshman sabreist Phil Dershwitz (Sherborn, Mass.) compiling an 8-1 record during the day's action (as part of a 14-13 record for the Tigers sabreists, also 13-14 in men's epee and 10-17 in foil).
• Princeton vs. #4 Penn State (PSU 14-13 win; see recap above) – Despite winning the epee and sabre battles (both 5-4), the Tigers came up one win shy after winning only 3-of-9 foil bouts ...two-time All-America foilist Alex Mills (Millburn, N.J.) went 2-1 against PSU, bit his teammates were 1-5. ... Veteran epeeist Mike Elfassy (Forest Hills, N.Y.) – a 2009 NCAA semifinalist – swept past the young and relatively inexperienced PSU trio, while Dershwitz defeated talented newcomer Adrian Bak (5-2) as part of his sweep.
• Princeton vs. #8 Duke (14-13) – Shortly after the tough loss to Penn State, the Tigers found themselves on the good side of another one-point match (with all three weapons ending 5-4; Princeton win foil and sabre). ... Dershwitz set an early tone – winning against Timothy Evans (5-1), 2010 NCAA participant Anthony Lin (5-3) and Brian Cucinelli (5-1) – while freshman Robert Stone (Chicago, Ill.) added a key 5-1 win over Lin and his classmate Spencer Koo (Los Angeles, Calif.) defeated Cucinelli, 5-0. ... Duke kept things tight early on, with a pair of wins from Evans (5-1 vs. Koo, 5-3 vs. Stone) along with Lin's 5-2 bout against Koo and Cucinelli's 5-4 victory over Stone. ... Princeton inched back into the match during the foil round, as sophomore Marcus Howard (Philadephia, Pa.) posted 5-4 wins over Matthew Budowsky and Andrew Hsu (also 2-5 vs. three-time NCAA entrant Dorian Cohen). ... Sophomore Robert Malcolm (Park City, Utah) won both of his bouts (5-3 vs. Hsu, 5-4 Budowsky), but the Tigers received only one win from Mills (5-2 vs. Budowsky; 3-5 vs. Hsu and Cohen) while junior David Mandle (Los Altos, Calif.) lost an 0-5 bout to Cohen. ... Princeton has one of the top three-fencer men's epee teams in the nation, but it was sophomore Jonathan Yergler (Winter Park, Fla.) who pushed the Tigers to the overall 14-13 win by sweeping Tristan Jones (5-3), Dylan Nollner (5-1) and Jonathan Parker (5-2). ... Jones and Parker both have competed in past NCAAs) ... Elfassy added a 5-3 win over Jones (lost 3-5 to Parker, 4-5 vs. Nollner), but sophomore Ed Kelly (San Antonio, Texas) lost to Nollner (4-5) and Parker (3-4) while late sub John Burford (Shreveport, La.) dropped a 3-4 bout against Jones.
• Princeton vs. #2 St. John's (10-17; see recap above) – The Red Storm rolled to victory behind a 7-2 edge in foil. ... Yergler had a pair of impressive epee wins – besting 2010 NCAA champ Marat Israelian (5-0) and edging Nicholas Vomero (5-4), who placed 5th at the '10 NCAAs – while Kelley (5-1) and Elfassy (5-4) both knocked off Adam Watson. ...Dershwitz closed his 8-1 day with wins over Daniel Tobin (5-3) and All-American Alejandro Rojas (5-2), suffering his only loss of the day against another All-American (Sean Buckley, 0-5).
Final Princeton Records
Men's Foil – Alex Mills 4-4...Robert Malcolm 2-3 ... Marcus Howard 2-4
... Gregory Kirschen 1-2 ... David Mandle 1-3 ... Jonathan Moch 0-1
Men's Epee – Jonathan Yergler 6-3...Mike Elfassy 5-4 ..Ed Kelley 2-6...John Burford 0-1
Men's Sabre – Phil Dershwitz 8-1 ... Robert Stone 3-4 ... Spencer Koo 1-2
... Craig Limoli 1-2 ... John Stogin 1-4
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#8 DUKE – 0-3 (33-48 ... MF 7-20 ... ME 13-14 ... MS 13-14)
#2 St. John's def. #8 Duke, 20-7 (MF 7-2 ... ME 7-2 ... MS 6-3)
#4 Penn State def. #8 Duke, 14-13 (MF 8-1 ... ME 3-6 ... MS 3-6)
#7 Princeton def. #8 Duke, 14-13 (MF 5-4 ... ME 4-5 ... MS 5-4)
The Blue Devils struggled in foil (7-20 while winning nearly half of their epee and sabre bouts (13-14). ... Against #2 St. John's, junior epeeist Tristan Jones (Andover, N.H.) posted a 5-3 win over All-American Nicholas Vomero while sophomore sabreist Anthony Lin (Portland, Ore.) had a similarly noteworthy 5-2 win over All-American Sean Buckley. ... Top Blue Devil fencers in the narrow loss vs. #4 Penn State included freshman epeeist Dylan Nollner (Ogden, Utah), who swept his three bouts. ... In yet another 14-13 match, against Princeton, senior two-time All-America foilist Dorian Cohen (Brooklyn, N.Y.) went 3-0 ... see recaps above for more specific details.
Duke saberist Anthony Lin
Final Duke Records
Men's Foil – Dorian Cohen 5-4
Matthew Budofsky 1-8 (fr.; New York, NY)
Andrew Hsu 1-8 (fr.; Valhalla, NY)
Men's Epee – Dylan Nollner 5-4
Tristan Jones 4-5
Jonathan Parker 4-5 (jr.; Austin, TX)
Men's Sabre – Anthony Lin 5-4
Brian Cucinelli 4-5 (fr.; Slingerlands, NY) .
.. Nick Carothers 2-1 (fr.; Leawood, KS) ... Timothy Evans 2-4 (fr.; San Diego, CA)