POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (February 6, 2015) – The Vassar College men's fencing team (17-11) finish conference action this weekend at Dartmouth College, taking part in the third Northeast Fencing Conference meet of the season Saturday afternoon. The Brewers took on host Drew University last Saturday twice, defeating the Rangers 20-7 and 21-6 in the rare fencing doubleheader.

Meet Details
Date: February 7, 2015
Meet: NFC Conference Meet No. 3
Teams Competing: University of New Hampshire, Boston University, University of Massachusetts, Sacred Heart University
Links: (Vassar Men's Fencing Team Home Page) (Roster) (Schedule) (Statistics)
Site: Hanover, RI – Dartmouth College
Facility: Alumni Gymnasium
Time: 10 a.m.
 
What To Look For
The Brewers come into the weekend with two conference victories, and cannot win the Northeast Fencing Conference due to Brandeis University sitting idle this weekend with nine wins. The Judges have a stronghold in the conference title race right now, but the Brewers can still finish with six wins, which would put them in the top half of the conference standings. Vassar College takes on two teams with no league wins in BU and UNH, while UMass currently has two wins.
 
The battle of the day will come in the finale, as Vassar takes on rival Sacred Heart in conference finishing match. Sacred Heart has four league wins coming into the day, and has five matches scheduled on Saturday. If SHU comes into the match with VC undefeated on the day, the match would mean that a win by the Pioneers would tie them for the NFC top spot with nine wins, while a VC victory would seal the deal for Brandeis.
 
A Look At The Field
The Brewers will have an easier go of it this conference weekend than last, as Vassar went 2-4 at Brown University in the first NFC meet of the season. Vassar College opens action on Saturday against the University of New Hampshire, which hasn't won a league match this season and has gone 15-93 on the year in the conference individually. VC then turns its attention to Boston University, another winless team within the NFC. The Bulldogs are led by Sam Lorenz in sabre, which has won 40 percent of his bouts in conference action.
 
The Brewers then take on UMass later in the day, which currently has two wins in the conference coming into Saturday. Nathan Brickman has gone 11-4 in sabre in NFC play this season, while Zach Boynton is the leader of the epee team. UMass has struggled though in foil though, earning only five victories in 45 bouts, all of which have come from Ian Archibald. The final matchup of the day is against Sacred Heart, and the Pioneers boast a solid team. Senior Andrew Holmes leads the foil group after going to the NCAA Championships last year, winning 14 of his 15 conference bouts thus far. Seniors Charles Clark and Jonathan Jacovino each earned NCAA Championships spots last year for the extremely talented and deep epee team, while the sabre team is paced by Tom Gerrity and Milone Schuyler.
 
Leading By Example
Team captain and junior Elam Coalson (River Forest, IL/Oak Park & River Forest) has won 10 of his 15 league matches this season, which leads the squad with a 66.7 win percentage.
 
Fresh Foil
Freshman foilist Tom Racek (Clark's Summit, PA/Abington Heights) comes into the weekend with the best record within NFC action, going 6-4 so far. He is just one win behind senior Tre Artis (Jamaica, NY/Benjamin Cardozo) for the squad lead in total wins this year with 45.
 
Fine Fashion
The Vassar College foil squad went 11-1 in matches actually fenced, earning 17 of 18 points last weekend at Drew University.
 
Time To Go
The Brewer epee group has won bouts on the season at just under a 66 percent clip, but that rate drops to just over 50 percent in NFC action. VC needs the young but talent epee fencers to step up this weekend.
 
Farley Davidson
Sophomore Ry Farley (Pasadena, CA/Waverly School) comes into the weekend with 10 league wins, best among VC fencers, while posting a 48-27 overall record this year.
 
Team Lead
Freshman Eli Polston (Silver Spring, MD/Einstein) has second on the team in overall wins this season, earning 51 victories, just behind the 53 wins from fellow freshman Jonathan Alperstein (Fishkill, NY/John Jay).
 
Up Next
VC will head to the City Tuesday night, taking on No. 2 Columbia University and New York University at NYU at 5 p.m. in non-conference fencing action.