By Bruce Gillman
Head Coach

CHESTNUT HILL, MA (January 27, 2008) -- The team score was Vassar 13 - Brown 13 going into the final and deciding bout of the dual match. Vassar sophomore foilist Jesse Bisignano was up against talented Brown freshman Scott Phillips (a USFA “A” rated fencer).

The bout was refereed by Jon Moss (one of the top referees in the US). Jesse began the bout by scoring the first touch, but his opponent then scored three in a row. With the score at 1-3 in the five touch bout, I called a time out. It just so happens that the Brown fencer was from Long Island and I was very familiar with him, having both refereed and watched him as a high school fencer for years. I told Jesse that if he could pull it together and score the next touch, he could defeat this fencer psychologically, get in his head and could use the momentum to win the bout.

“This is your touch, your bout!” Jesse then went on the offensive, attacking savagely and scoring the next touch. The Brown fencer wavered and Jesse scored two more touches the same way. Brown then called time out, but Bisignano was now not to be denied. He quickly scored the final touch, winning the bout 5-3 and clinching our first team dual match victory over Brown in a long time 14-13.

Vassar's day at the Northeast Conference Fencing Meet hosted by Boston College was a pretty good one. The Brewers fenced five schools and went 3-2 on the day.

Other outstanding fencers on the day for the Vassar Men's Fencing Team were Andrew Fischl (freshman, sabre 11-4) and John Rothman (sophomore, sabre 9-6).

Round 1 – Vassar 14 – MIT 13

This was our first team dual match victory over MIT in quite a while. It wasn't quite as dramatic as the victory over Brown because it was engineered by the Vassar sabre squad and clinched by foil and epee almost simultaneously a bit earlier in the match, so didn't come down to a dramatic deciding bout, but it was just as important to us. Sabre fencers Andrew Fischl, John Rothman, and Jared Berenholz as went 2-1 for a 6-3 sabre squad victory. Foil and epee both went 4-5 with key victories by Jesse Bisignano, Zach Pattison-Gordon and Hassan Sakhtah to secure the team win.

Round 2 – Vassar 17 – Sacred Heart 10

This was our second match against Sacred Heart this year and it was not as close as the first. Sabre was again the strong squad winning 7-2 with both Andrew Fischl and John Rothman going 3-0. Epee stepped up this time with a 6-3 squad victory Zach Pattison Gordon, Hassan Sakhtah, and Paul Brehm all went 2-1. Foil only managed a 4-5 squad mark against a tough Sacred Heart group, but it was enough to win.

Round 3 – BYE

Round 4 – Vassar 14 – Brown 13

This match had a stirring foil finish, but it was actually set up by clutch victories by members of the epee and sabre squads. Jesse's bout was actually our only foil victory in that round. There were a number of close bouts, but as a squad foil finished 1-8. Our other 13 wins were produced by some great epee fencing from captain Paul Brehm (3-0) and sophomore Zach Pattison-Gordon (2-1) in the round for a 5-4 epee squad mark. Sabre was even more outstanding, going 8-1 behind 3-0 performances by Andrew Fischl and Jared Berenholz and a 2-1 performance by John Rothman.

Round 5 – Vassar 11 – Brandeis 16

This match was a bit surprising in that we normally haven't been within shouting distance of Brandeis in the past few years, but this time both sabre and foil were definitely in match. Epee only managed to take one bout from a tough Brandeis squad, but both Andrew Fischl and John Rothman went 2-1 in Sabre. The squad finished 4-5. Foil was the shocker, though. Jesse Bisignano went 3-0 and Conor Kenney beat tough Brandeis fencers Will Friedman and Eugene Vortsman on the way to a 2-1 mark. Mike D'Urso also chimed in with a victory bringing the foil squad to a 6-3 finish.

Round 6 – Vassar 6 – Boston College 21

The match score does not reflect some of the close losses in this round. That said, by round 6, the Vassar men were physically and mentally tired and the BC fencers were fencing quite well and with more energy. All three Vassar squads went 2-7. We will see BC again at New Englands and IFAs and hope to do better there.

The next match for the Vassar Men's fencing team will be at Wellesley on Saturday, February 2 against Dartmouth, Tufts, Boston University, UNH, and UMass.