POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (January 22, 2016) – The Brewer men's fencing team will head to snowy Chestnut Hill, MA and the campus of Boston College for the second of three day-long Northeast Fencing Conference days of competition. Vassar College did not compete in the first day of action at Brown University back on November 21, as the Brewers open NFC action with five hugely important matches in Flynn Recreation Center starting at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Meet Details
Opponents: MIT, Brown, Brandeis, Boston College, Tufts
Links: 
(Vassar Women's Fencing Home Page) (Roster) (Schedule)
Site: Chestnut Hill, MA – Boston College
Facility: Flynn Recreation Center
Date: January 23, 2016
Time: 10 a.m.

What To Look For
The goal before the season for the Vassar College men's fencing team was to win the Northeast Fencing Conference. That goal remains, and the time is now for head coach Bruce Gillman and his bunch to go out and perform in the biggest day of action thus far this season. Gillman and his troops finished sixth last year, one victory behind Boston College with five wins in 2014-15. Vassar College is coming off some good experience out at California-San Diego last weekend, so if the momentum continues VC could be in good standing going into the last weekend of league action February 6 at Smith College. The Brewers will face the top four teams in the NFC standings this weekend, including undefeated Brown University and Brandeis University.

A Look at the Brewers (16-10)
- Vassar College will need big performances from every weapon, but the sabre team will need to continue its dominance exhibited this year. VC's sabre crew is 162-72 in dual matches this year, highlighted by 45 wins from Elam Coalson (River Forest, IL/Oak Park & River Forest) and 42 from Eli Polston (Silver Spring, MD/Einstein).
- Along with Coalson and Polston, Vassar's sabre team has gotten great depth from senior Zachary Wilson (Rochester, NY/Allendale Columbia School) and Campbell Woods (Newport Beach, CA/Corona Del Mar). Last week in San Diego, Woods was 10-6 to improve his record to 26-18.
- Vassar's epee team has continued to shine this year, as junior captain Ry Farley (Pasadena, CA/Waverly School) has paced the team with a 40-12 mark this season. Sophomores Jonathan Alperstein (Fishkill, NY/John Jay) and George Whiteside (Fairfield, CT/Fairfield Ludlowe) have posted 38 and 32 wins, respectively.
- Sophomore Eric Lee (Fishkill, NY/John Jay) was 5-0 last weekend in San Diego, and has provided strong depth in sabre for VC.
- Sophomore Tom Racek (Clark's Summit, PA/Abington Heights) leads has chalked up a 39-15 mark in foil this year, which leads the foil squad.
- Junior Jackson Dammann (Chappaqua, NY/Horace Greeley) won six bouts last weekend in foil to tie for the squad lead, moving to 24-23 on the season.
- Alperstein has won nine or more bouts in each date of competition this season, the only fencer on the roster to boast that accomplishment.
- Racek leads the team in matches with an undefeated 3-0 record, as he has gone unblemished in three bouts in a match 10 times this season. Coalson is second with seven 3-0 records in a match.
-  Of the Vassar's 19 rostered fencers, only one of them hails from Massachusetts, as Benjamin Xiong lists his hometown as Andover, MA.

A Look At the Northeast Fencing Conference
- Brandeis and Brown went undefeated back on November 21 in the first conference meet of the season, while Boston College only went down once. MIT is 3-2 on the year, while VC's other opponent Tufts has not started conference action yet.
- Vassar will start Saturday's festivities with a 10 a.m. with MIT, and the sabre bouts should be electric. The Engineers have two sabre fencers that are undefeated in Benji Lin and Patrick Wong, and will be great tests for Polston and Coalson. The MIT foil team has struggled, going 9-37 in conference action, while the epee team for MIT goes four deep, led by the 9-1 mark from Giulio Gueltrini.
- The Brewers then take on host BC, whose only league loss was to Brown 18-11. BC's sabre team is strong, featuring three with winning percentages above .760, while Eliot Kim is 11-1 in conference action. Hanmin Lee lead the foil squad with an 11-4 mark, while the epee team has had five fencers compete paced by Thomas Ferrante and his 8-3 record.
- The Jumbos of Tufts are the only team VC will face this week that haven't opened NFC action, as Tufts won three conference matches last year. The Jumbo men are a club team, while its women's counterpart is an NCAA member.
- Brandeis could pose the biggest threat for the Brewers, but what is interesting is the Judges' depth at epee. Brandeis has employed 10 epee fencers in league action, by far the most. The foil squad has been dominant, with all four Judge fencers posting at least an 84.6% win percentage.  Curtis Wilson and Kyle Berney will led the sabre contingent for the Judges.
- Brown University is looking to continue its run in the league, after eking out wins over Sacred Heart and Boston College in the opening round of NFC action. Alex Palabrica is the leader in the sabre team, going 13-1 so far in the UFC, while the Bear's foil team has been great. Brown has three dominant foil fencers, including Kyle Kennedy and his undefeated 12-0 record. James Yoon, who sports a 12-3 mark in epee, has led the way for the Bear epee team thus far this season.

Up Next
The Brewers will travel to New Haven, CT January 30 at 2 p.m. to take on the Bulldogs of Yale University in non-conference action.