MEDFORD, MA (February 9, 2009) – In a competitive Northeast Conference Dual Match competition, head women's fencing coach Bruce Gillman knew the only way his Brewers could compete at the level he expected was if all weapon squads came together at the right time to secure wins. The Brewers fenced to plan, finishing 5-1 on the afternoon, losing only to rival Sacred Heart, but defeating five top programs.

Now 13-12 on the season, the Brewers will next compete on Wednesday, February 11 at New York University in a tri-match with Columbia.

Outstanding fencers at the meet were sophomore Julie Carlsen (Rockaway, NJ/Morris Hills) who compiled a 12-4 record, senior captain Erica Seigneur (Azusa, CA/Azusa) who was 10-4 in the sabre, sophomore Jackie Kory (Martinez, CA/Horizons Home Studay), 15-2 in the foil, sophomore Sophie Courser (Warner, NH), 15-3 in the epee, and senior Molly Soiffer (Newton, MA/Buckingham, Brown & Nichol), who went 10-5 in the epee.

Round 1 – Bye

Round 2 – Vassar 20 – University of Massachusetts 7
Vassar foil and epee cruised in this round with foilists Kory, junior Melissa Lee (Fountain Valley, CA/Fountain Calley), freshman Alia Heintz (Houston, TX/Awty International) and epee fencers Courser, Soiffer, and senior Meryl Franklin (Chapel Hill, NC/East Chapel) all going undefeated in this round. Vassar sabre had trouble in this round, but would come up big in the next round.

Round 3 – Vassar 14 – Wellesley 13
Vassar and Wellesley waged a close match, separated by a single point. The sabre squad came up big and made it possible to defeat a strong Wellesley team for the second straight year. Both Seigneur and Carlsen went undefeated at 3-0 in the round, but two clutch wins came from sophomore sabre fencer Domino Gehred O'Connell (Fort Atkinson, WI/Fort Atkinston). Only fencing for a second year, she produced both the wins the team needed to defeat Wellesley. Epee and foil managed to piece together six victories to add to sabre's eight wins to secure Vassar's victory. Senior foilist Sadi Rebsch (Sleepy Hollow, NY/Sleepy Hollow) managed a clutch win against Wellesley star Hannah Braaten in this round.

Round 4 – Vassar 15 – University of New Hampshire 12
An exceedingly close match in which UNH put together solid wins in foil and sabre to challenge the Brewers. Vassar only managed to post 4-5 squad marks. Epee came to the rescue battling to a 7-2 squad victory behind a 3-0 performance by Soiffer and great 2-1 results posted by Courser and junior Jacinthe Sasson-Yenor (Jersey City, NJ/The Hudson School). Jackie Kory was 3-0 in this round.

Round 5 – Vassar 16 – Dartmouth 11
Dartmouth put up a pretty good fight, but could not stop a Vassar team lead by undefeated performances from the trio of Kory, Courser, and Soiffer.

Round 6 – Vassar 12 – Sacred Heart University 15
Matches with Sacred Heart have repeatedly been close. Last season, Vassar split with Sacred Heart in two matches. This year it was reversed. Foil kept it close, with Kory posting a 3-0 mark on the way to a 5-4 squad victory. Epee kept it close as well, but lost some key bouts to only turn in a 4-5 mark. It came down to sabre competition, in which the Brewers were unable to win the clutch bouts in the round, finishing with a dissapointing 3-6 result.

Round 7 – Vassar 17 – Boston University 10
The sabre squad bouced back well in this round behind undefeated 3-0 performances by Carlsen and Seigneur for a 6-3 squad victory. Epee rolled at 7-2 with Courser at 3-0 and Soiffer and Sasson-Yenor at 2-1. Foil was challenged this round going only 4-5, despite another 3-0 mark set by Kory.