CHESTNUT HILL, MA (January 28, 2012) – With a 4-2 record, the Vassar Women's Fencing Team exceeded expectations at the North East Fencing Conference match held at Boston College.

The return of epeeist Caitlin Clevenger from her Junior Semester Abroad helped spark the epee squad to win five out of six matches on the day. Their only loss was 4-5 to Brown.

The foil squad was also impressive, taking four of six, one of them a clutch 9-0 victory against Tufts.

Top performers on the day were Katie LeClair, who was 17-1 on the day in foil and Veronica Weser who was 16-2 in epee. Caitlin Clevenger was a strong 14-4, also in epee.

Round 1 – Vassar 22, Smith 5
Smith College is a club program, but they put their all out on the strip every time. Vassar epee was undefeated in this round. Smith has a pesky group of lefty foilists that made each win difficult for the Vassar squad, a few bouts going to time. One of the Smith sabre fencers was difficult. but Tracy Bratt was still undefeated at 3-0 in this round.

Round 2 – Brown 19, Vassar 8
Brown is a strong team this year and will likely be league champions. Foil and sabre are Brown's strongest squads and our Vassar women only took two bouts each from them. Katie LeClair and Brooke Schieffer went 2-1 in this round.  Caitlin Clevenger and Veronica Weser also took two bouts each, but the epee squad had its only loss on the day 4-5.

Round 3 – Vassar 15, Tufts 12
For the past two years, Tufts has had a new coach who is a sabre specialist. She has molded her sabre fencers into a significant fighting force and were able to take all but one of the sabre bouts in this round. Unfortunately for Tufts, the Vassar foil squad went 9-0 against them with LeClair , Katherine Sweeney and Liz Ilechko all undefeated in that round. Vassar epee had a narrow 5-4 squad victory as well with Weser 3-0 and Clevenger 2-1.

Round 4 – Vassar 14,  Boston College 13
BC had been undefeated in the conference coming into this round. The Eagles handled Vassar fairly easily in sabre, with Brooke Schieffer earning the only Vassar win. Epee was a different story with Weser and Clevenger earning five of the wins and Anastasia Stevens scoring the sixth. The surprise came in foil. Katie LeClair powered through with three wins as she often does, but two wins each from Alia Heintz and Liz Ilechko showed that these two seniors really came in to their own against Boston College.

Round 5 – MIT 14,  Vassar 13
Just goes to show that one round you can squeak out a win and the next lose by one. Vassar sabre revived a bit in this round going 4-5, with Bratt leading the way with two wins. Epee took five wins with wins again by Weser, Clevenger and Stevens. Foil was a bit flat though after the last round. LeClair was again undefeated with three victories, but the rest of the squad only managed one more, leaving us just short in the end.

Round 6 – Vassar 19,  Brandeis 8
Foil bounced back in grand fashion in this round with an 8-1 squad victory. LeClair and Sweeney were both undefeated at 3-0 and Heintz went 2-1. Vassar epee scored a 6-3 victory with Weser and Clevenger undefeated and Vassar sabre came alive at the end of the day for a 5-4 squad victory with Schieffer 3-0, Bratt 2-1, and Jillian Josimovich adding the final win.
The Brewers, now 16-13 on the season, next fence at Yale on February 4.