NEW YORK, NY (February 8, 2012)  -- The Vassar College men's fencing team found New York City rivals Columbia and New York tough foes on Wednesday evening, falling to both teams.

The Brewers fall to 13-14 on the season. Best records on the night were Brian Rouse and Nicholas Johnson in epee at 4-2 and Matt Steinschneider in sabre at 3-3.

Round 1 – Columbia 20,  Vassar 7
After an off year last year, the Columbia team is pretty strong again. Vassar Men's Sabre made no headway with them at all, going 0-9. At epee Brian Rouse was 2-1 and Alex Bue was 2-1 in foil. Foil had a narrow 4-5 squad loss with victories by Alex Vastola and Trequan Artis.

Round 2 – NYU, 18 Vassar 9
NYU has a very strong Foil squad. Although Alex Bue got close in a couple of bouts, foil lost all 9 bouts, making a team victory for Vassar unlikely. Sabre was better with Steinschneider pulling of an undefeated round at 3-0 and Ezra Gumpel-Jones adding another win. Epee was best with Johnson at 3-0 and Rouse 2-1 in the round, for a 5-4 squad victory, the only one on the night.

Vassar moves on this Saturday to fence Northeast Conference Match #3. If Johnson, Rouse, Bue, and Steinschneider can take some of the momentum from wed and get their teammates moving in the right direction, it will be a great finish to the dual match season against Dartmouth, Boston University, University of New Hampshire, University of Massachusetts, and Sacred Heart University.