Penn freshman epeeist Clifford Fishler (left)
Fishler (Great Neck, N.Y.) led the way for the 7th-ranked Quakers, not only in quantity of wins (11-2 record) but in the quality of victories – as the newcomer swept his three bouts versus 9th-ranked Duke and also went 3-0 vs. another quality opponent, North Carolina. Penn finished 6-0 on Saturday, highlighted by the wins over Duke (15-12) and UNC (19-8), along with 18-9 finals vs. Haverford and Sacred Heart, plus 22-5 victories against Drew and NJIT.
The Penn bouts vs. Duke and UNC were the most noteworthy matchups of the day, as Duke did not fence against its rival UNC during the six rounds of action.
Saturday's eight-team competition featured 12 fencers (four from Penn, four Duke, threee UNC and one Sacred Heart) who have competed in the NCAA Championships during previous seasons. Top veterans from Penn include the junior foil trio of Vidur Kapur (15th at '09 NCAAs; 8th in '10), fellow All-American Alex Simmons (7th in '10; appears he did not fence on Sat.) and Zane Grodman (17th in '09), plus sophomore sabreist Evan Prochniak (1th in '10) and senior epeeist Jacob Wischnia (17th in '10). Duke's veterans of the NCAAs include: senior foilist Dorian Cohen (6th at '08 NCAAs; 21st/injured in '10), the junior epee duo of Tristan Jones (23rd in '10) and Jonathan Parker (20th in '09), and sophomore sabreist Anthony Lin (22nd in '10).
The three North Carolina fencers with NCAA Tournament experience include senior sabreist Kevin Zeichmann (24th in '08; 23rd in '10), senior epeeist Eric Hsieh (21st in '10) and junior foilist Kevin Nadeau (22nd in '10). Sacred Heart actually has two men's fencers on its roster – juniors Justin Dion (13th in epee) and Marty Williams (18th in sabre) – who competed in the 2010 NCAAs, but it appears that Williams was not involved in Saturday's bouting (Dion had an impressive showing against the top teams; see below). Haverford sophomore foilist Ben Van Son (21st at '10 NCAAs) also does not appear to have fenced today at Penn.
Penn's tight victory in the top-10 matchup vs. Duke saw the Quakers claim 5-4 margins in all three weapons. Cohen pulled off an impressive sweep of the Penn foilists (5-0 vs. Kapur; 5-3 vs. Grodman and Royce Shipp), but Cohen's foil teammates Matt Budofsky and Andrew Hsu won only one of their six comined bouts in the big match (Kapur and Grodman both were 2-1 vs. Duke). Fishler's sweep led the epeeists vs. Duke (5-0 vs. Jones; 5-3 vs. Dylan Nollner; 5-2 vs. Parker in 9th/final bout), with Wischnia adding his own key win over Jones (3-2; Wischnia also beat Nollner 5-4, but lost 3-2 vs Parker). Prochniak and freshman Michael Mills both went 2-1 in the sabre battle against Duke, with each securing clutch 5-4 wins over Lin (Prochniak did so in the 9th bout).
Duke's top performers in the marquee match versus Penn included Cohen (3-0), Parker (2-1; beat Wischnia) and sabreist Nick Carothers, who edged Mills in an early bout and then had an impressive 5-2 win over Prochniak (his only loss in a 9-1 day). Kapur finished the tournament with an 8-2 mark, joining Fishler and Prochniak as Penn's leaders throughout the day.
Fishler's sweep of UNC – 5-2 vs. Hsieh, 5-4 vs. Jarrett Rodriguez, 5-1 vs. Max Tice-Lewis – paced a 7-2 margin for the Quakers epeeists, while the foil and sabre squads kicked in six wins each to produce the comfortable final margin. Other noteworthy head-to-head results in the Penn-UNC matchup included: Kapur's 5-2 win over Nadeau (who beat Grodman, 4-2); Hsieh topping Wischnia (5-3); and Zimmerman's 5-3 victory over Mills (Zimmerman did not face Prochniak). Penn's Joe Isaac added a solid win over Hsieh, in a 1-0 ultra-defensive battle. It appears that Thomas Le Guillou – a Paris native had some impressive results after joining the UNC program in the 2010 season – is not an active member of the Tar Heels program this year.
Sacred Heart's Dion fashioned a 7-2 record on Saturday versus epeeists from the top three teams – including sweeps of both Penn (5-2 vs. Fishler, Wischnia and Steve Jow) and UNC (5-0 vs. Hsieh; 5-3 vs. Tice-Lewis; 5-1 vs. reserve Daniel Giles). The Duke epeeists managed to get the best of Dion, who beat Parker (5-1) but lost to Jones (4-5) and Nollner (3-5).
PHILADELPHIA INVITATIONAL (Day-1 Results; Jan. 22, 2011)
(courtesy of CollegeFencing360.com)
MEN (women's bouts on Sunday, Jan. 23, at Temple)
#7 Pennsylvania – 6-0 (106-56 ... MF 34-20 ... ME 34-20 ... MS 38-16)
#7 Pennsylvania def. #9 Duke, 15-12 (MF 5-4 ... ME 5-4 ... MS 5-4)
#7 Pennsylvania def. North Carolina, 19-8 (MF 6-3 ... ME 7-2 ... MS 6-3)
#7 Pennsylvania def. Haverford, 18-9 (MF 5-4 ... ME 5-4 ... MS 8-1)
#7 Pennsylvania def. Sacred Heart, 18-9 (MF 5-4 ... ME 4-5 ... MS 9-0)
#7 Pennsylvania def. Drew, 15-12 (MF 5-4 ... ME 5-4 ... MS 5-4)
#7 Pennsylvania def. NJIT, 21-6 (MF 8-1 ... ME 8-1 ... MS 5-4)
#9 Duke – 4-1 (105-30 ... MF 33-12 ... ME 38-7 ... MS 34-11)
#9 Duke def. Haverford, 21-6 (MF 7-2 ... ME 8-1 ... MS 6-3)
#9 Duke def. Sacred Heart, 24-3 (MF 8-1 ... ME 8-1 ... MS 8-1)
#9 Duke def. Drew, 23-4 (MF 6-3 ... ME 9-0 ... MS 8-1)
#9 Duke def. NJIT, 25-2 (MF 8-1 ... ME 9-0 ... MS 8-1)
North Carolina – 5-1 (101-61 ... MF 32-22 ... ME 30-24 ... MS 39-15)
North Carolina def. Haverford, 15-12 (MF 4-5 ... ME 4-5 ... MS 7-2)
North Carolina def. Sacred Heart, 15-12 (MF 6-3 ... ME 3-6 ... MS 6-3)
North Carolina def. Johns Hopkins, 19-8 (MF 7-2 ... ME 5-4 ... MS 7-2)
North Carolina def. Drew, 22-5 (MF 5-4 ... ME 8-1 ... MS 9-0)
North Carolina def. NJIT, 22-5 (MF 7-2 ... ME 8-1 ... MS 7-2)
Haverford – 3-3 (79-83 ... MF 27-27 ... ME 28-26 ... MS 24-30)
Haverford def. Sacred Heart, 15-12 (MF 4-5 ... ME 5-4 ... MS 6-3)
Haverford def. Johns Hopkins, 18-9 (MF 8-1 ... ME 4-5 ... MS 6-3)
Haverford def. Drew, 19-8 (MF 4-5 ... ME 9-0 ... MS 6-3)
Sacred Heart – 2-4 (74-88 ... MF 28-26 ... ME 31-23 ... MS 15-39)
Sacred Heart def. Johns Hopkins, 18-9 (MF 8-1 ... ME 8-1 ... MS 2-7)
Sacred Heart def. NJIT, 20-7 (MF 7-2 ... ME 7-2 ... MS 6-3)
Johns Hopkins – 2-3 (63-72 ... MF 12-33 ... ME 24-21 ... MS 27-18)
Johns Hopkins def. Drew, 15-12 (MF 1-8 ... ME 6-3 ... MS 8-1)
Johns Hokins def. NJIT, 22-5 (MF 7-2 ... ME 8-1 ... MS 7-2)
Drew – 1-5 (58-104 ... MF 32-22 ... ME 14-40 ... MS 12-42)
Drew def. NJIT, 17-10 (MF 8-1 ... ME 6-3 ... MS 3-6)
New Jersey Institute of Tech. – 0-6 (35-127 ... MF 9-45 ... ME 8-46 ... MS 18-36)