CHESNUT HILL (January 23, 2010) – A 3-2 record by the Vassar College men's fencing team at the Norh East Conference meet held at Boston College on Saturday was highlighted by victories over MIT and Tufts. Most impressively, however, was Vassar's win over Brandeis for the first time in school history.

The Brewers now stand at 12-8 on the season. The next series of matches will be against both New York University and Columbia in New York City on February 3 at 4:00 p.m.

Highlighted fencers for the Brewers were junior Andrew Fischl who compiled a 12-1 record in the sabre and freshman Tavish Pegram who amassed a 11-4 mark in the foil.

Round 1 – Bye

Round 2 – Vassar 12 – Brown 15
Over the last few years, matches with Brown had been close and this year was no different. Two years ago Vassar won the deciding bout and last year Brown had the honors despite Vassar posting 5-4 victories in the sabre and epee. This season, sabre and epee again had 5-4 victories behind 3-0 performances by Fischl and junior Nick Johnson, but a strong Brown foil squad again sealed the victory with a 7-2 outing.

Round 3 – Vassar 20 – Tufts 7
All three Vassar squads performed well in this round with sabre and foil at 7-2 and epee at 6-3. Junior Dennis D'Urso and Pegram both went 3-0 and senior Jonathan Hirokawa and freshman Dan Flynn were 2-0.

Round 4 – Vassar 9 – Boston College 18
The Vassar epee with the squad managed only three victories in the round against the host Eagles. Foil struggled as well with Pegram taking the only two Vassar victories. Sabre fared the best at 4-5 with Fischl and senior captain John Rothman both going 2-1.

Round 5 – Vassar 16 – MIT 11
This victory was generated by strong performances in foil and sabre competition. Despite struggling in the previous round against Boston College, foil came roaring back with a 5-4 squad mark. Epee hung tough in a narrow 4-5 loss with Flynn scoring two of the wins. Sabre was the real story with all three sabre starters doing well (Fischl 3-0, Rothman 2-1, D'Urso 2-1) and earning a 7-2 squad victory.

Round 6 – Vassar 14 – Brandeis 13
For the first time in the modern era of fencing at Vassar College, the Brewers defeated Brandies. The match began on the downside when epee was soundly defeated 7-2 with senior captain Zach Pattison-Gordon accounting for both wins. Both foil and sabre rose to the occasion and scored 6-3 squad victories. Fischl and Pegram were both undefeated at 3-0. Senior Jesse Bisignano and Rothman were 2-1 and the last two important victories were contributed by senior Mike D'Urso and his brother and Dennis, who according to head coach Bruce Gillman “have been coming through in the clutch situations all season long.”