POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (November 6, 2009) – For the Vassar men's fencing team, the start to the 2009-10 season will be about tradeoffs. The Brewers lost several key members of its sabre squad to graduation, but added strength to the foil and epee areas. Saturday, November 7 will be an early indicator of how the season will unfold when Vassar travels to Smith College for the annual Big One event.

Vassar lost last year's captain Alex Snow and standout senior Chris Benson to graduation, but the Brewers do return two-time NCAA qualifier Andrew Fischl, seniors John Rothman, # Jared Berenholz#, Jonathan Hirokawa and junior Dennis D'Urso to pace the team. Fischl had an impressive sophomore season in the sabre, compiling a 36-11 record.

Freshman Matt Harvey adds a new dimension to the sabre team. Freshmen Tavish Pegram and Alex Vastola, a pair of seasoned competitors, help comprise a solid foil squad that is already bolstered by the veteran leadership of seniors Jesse Bisignano and Eric Lynch along with juniors Mike D'Urso and Conor Kenney.

“Foil has definitely improved over last year,” said head coach Bruce Gillman, who was named the North East Men's Fencing Coach of the Year last season. “Epee will probably be the key to our success this year. We are returning co-captain and senior Zach Pattison-Gordon, as well as standout sophomores Brian Rouse, Nick Johnson, and Raffi Radna, so I feel very good about this area of our team.” According to Gillman, Johnson will not have to split time as a foilist this year because of improvements and depth of the squad in that area, in particular the addition of from freshman epeeist Daniel Flynn.

“The real challenge for our men's team this year will be that many of the other teams in our league have also gained in strength,” explains Gillman. “If sabre can win four or five bouts a match and foil can do the same, our strength in epee should carry the day against our closest competitors like Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston College and Brown. Those are the types of schools in the middle of the pack that we need to beat the have a successful season.”

The Brewers will host their annual Invitational on November 15 inside Walker Field House and remain at home the following weekend for a match with Bard, New Paltz, Rensselaer, Rutgers and Marist.