By Bruce Gillman
Head Coach

NEW HAVEN, CT (January 23, 2008) -- Vassar's women's fencing team has fenced in some other challenging venues like NYU and the Princeton fencing room, but the Yale fencing room is the most fearsome.

It reminds me of the basketball court in one of the schools portrayed early in the movie Hoosiers, complete with a similar sort of claustrophobic atmosphere and a partisan home crowd in the gallery one floor up, whose loud voiced taunts echo of the walls. It is extremely difficult for visiting teams to concentrate and the home team feeds off the energy of the crowd.

In sabre, Julie Carlsen was able to tune out the distractions an win two tough bouts. Some others were close, but sabre finished 2-7.

In foil, Melissa Lee was able to win two bouts pretty convincingly against some difficult opposition. Jackie Kory was able to take one bout from Yale, but lost her other two by close scores. Foil finished at 3-6..

Epee was by far the most exciting for Vassar. Sophomore Molly Soiffer posted a 1-1 record coming back from a 2-4 deficit to win her second bout 5-4. Most impressive, though was freshman Sophie Courser's comeback win over Yale's Rebecca Moss after being down 1-4 early in the bout. It was the last bout of the match and briefly silenced the Yale crowd.

The next match for the Vassar Women's Fencing Team will be Saturday, January 26 at Boston College with BC, MIT, Brown, Brandeis, Smith, and Sacred Heart.