POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (December 3, 2012) – The Vassar College women's fencing team faced five of the nation's top six fencing programs, according to CollegeFencing360.com on Saturday at Walker Field House. The Brewers were able to hold their own against an elite group of teams and individual fencers, factors that will bode well for the team in the second half of the season.

Recent NCAA Fencing Rankings, including teams competing at Vassar:
1. Ohio State 
2. Princeton 
3. St. John's 
4. Notre Dame 
5. Penn State 
6. Harvard 
7. Pennsylvania 
8. Duke 
9. Columbia 
10. Sacred Heart 
Others receiving votes: North Carolina, Stanford, Yale, Brown, Boston College, Air Force, Brandeis, NYU.

Outstanding performers on the day for Vassar were senior captains Katie LeClair in foil at 9-9 and Caitlin Clevenger at 7-9. Their results at this event will help their seeding in to NCAA Regionals in March.

Vassar 2, Penn State 25
The bright spot for Vassar in this round against the 11-time national champions was quite an accomplishment. Clevenger went undefeated (2-0) in epee.

Vassar 1, Harvard 26
LeClair had the only Vassar victory in foil, but Caitlin Clevenger and Rachel Messbauer each lost two epee bouts at 4-5, so it was closer in epee than the final results indicate.

Vassar 3, University of Pennsylvania 24
This was Vassar's first dual match against Penn in recent years. The Quakers field a strong squad. Tracy Bratt, LeClair, and Messbauer were able to spread the wealth amongst the weapon squads secure one victory each.

Vassar 2, Princeton 25
Princeton is fields a strong team, and the Tigers have gotten even better over the last two years. They are currently ranked No. 2 nationally. LeClair was able to secure any wins against them at 2-1 in foil.

Vassar 5, Temple 22
Temple has been one of the strongest NCAA programs for the last three decades. LeClair was able to go 2-1 in foil again in this round. Clevenger matched her in epee and Megan Lewis broke through to add one more victory at 1-2.

Vassar 9, University of North Carolina 18
UNC made a long trip to come up here to Vassar, but that didn't slow the Tar Heels down, even in the last match of the day. Vassar was still able to pull out nine wins against them. Bratt finished strong in sabre at 2-1 in the round.  LeClair went undefeated at 3-0. Katharine Sweeney added a foil win at 1-2. In epee, Clevenger was also undefeated at 3-0.

Now, 6-10 on the season, the Brewers will gear up for the North East Conference Match #2 at Brown University on Saturday, January 26. Opponents include Brown, Brandeis, Boston College, Tufts, MIT and Smith College.