POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (February 13, 2017) – The dual meet season will come to an end on Wednesday evening, as the Brewer men's fencing squad travels into Upper Manhattan to take on the No. 2 Lions of Columbia University along with No. 10 New York University in the Historical Meet. Sacred Heart University will also be at the meet, which will take place in both the Blue Gym and the Columbia Fencing Room.
 
Game Details
Opponent: No. 2 Columbia University (19-4) & No. 10 New York University (15-8)
Site: New York, NY – at Columbia University
Facility: Blue Gym & Columbia Fencing Room
Date: February 15, 2017
Time: 6:15 p.m. vs. NYU; 7:30 p.m. vs. Columbia
 
Last Time Out: The Brewers re-established a new school record for wins in a season on Saturday, going 5-0 to up their record to 28-9 on the year. Vassar chalked up at least 20 bout victories in four of the five matches, while defeating old rival Sacred Heart 17-10 in the only semi-close match of the afternoon. Tom Racek was once again exceptional at foil for the Brewers, as was fellow junior Eli Polston in sabre.
 
A Look At The Brewers (28-9):
 

• Vassar will look to pick off the Lions for the second consecutive season on Wednesday afternoon, having defeated Columbia 14-13 almost a year ago to the day.
• Vassar knocked off the University of New Hampshire 26-1 to start the day's festivities Saturday, followed by a 25-2 win over Boston University. VC would then knock off Dartmouth College 21-6, Sacred Heart University 17-10, finishing up the afternoon with a triumph over the University of Massachusetts, 22-5.
• The deciding factor though for VC against SHU Saturday was the clinic it put on in sabre, as experience played huge for VC. Campbell Woods would win all three of his bouts, including an exciting 5-4 win over Cory Meola, while Polston picked up three wins as well with scores of 5-3, 5-3 and 5-2. Graeme Mills would add two more triumphs as well, as the squad helped carry VC to the win.
• Against the Big Green of Dartmouth, Racek won both of his bouts, while Jack Holmes was 2-0 and Noe Berger added a pair of victories. In epee, junior Jonathan Alperstein was unblemished in his three bouts, allowing just five touches.
• In round four, Vassar lost only two bouts to the Terriers of BU, highlighted by the nine from the foil team. Holmes moved to 8-0 on the day with three more wins, and Berger was 2-0 before handing his spot over to Choi, who won 5-0.
• Head coach Bruce Gillman continues to rack up career wins here at Vassar, as the head mentor has posted 212 wins for the men's team. When combined with the women's team, he has 437 career match victories.

 
A Look At The Violets (15-8):
 

• The Violets come into the week having moved into the Top 10 in the latest CollegeFencing360.com Top 10 Rankings.
• Grant Williams has been very strong for the Violets in sabre, going 41-16 this season, while fellow sabre fencers Quintin Burgunder and Mickey Bak have been strong as well.
• The foil team has spread the bouts around this year, as NYU has had 11 fencers get on the foil strip.
• Of those 11 fencers, Daniel Sconzo has been the main option for the Violets, going 29-19. Squad mate Philip Shin is 28-22 on the season, while Sean Grant has posted 19 wins as well. Eric Zobel hasn't fenced much, but hasn't lost a bout yet in his seven attempts.
• The epee group has three strong starters, led by the efforts from Hans Engel. Engel is 29-10 on the season, while Alexandre Crepeaux has a squad-high 26 wins.
• Will Zhang also has posted 30 victories in epee for the Violets, who went 5-1 at the Eric Sollee MIT Invitational back on February 5.
• That day, NYU posted some very strong finishes, including crushing NFC teams Boston College (20-7), Brown University (22-5) and MIT (20-7. The only loss was to No. 9 Duke University 14-13.

 
A Look At The Lions (19-4):
 

• The Lions don't lose often on the fencing strip, and that continued on Sunday as Columbia captured the coveted Ivy League title, splitting honors with Princeton and Penn, who were also 4-1.
• In their first match of the day, Columbia trailed 11-3 to Harvard, with dwindling hopes at a shot at the title. The Lions then rallied to win 11 of their final 13 bouts to earn the come from behind victory.
• In their first match of the day, Columbia trailed 11-3 to Harvard, with dwindling hopes at a shot at the title. The Lions then rallied to win 11 of their final 13 bouts to earn the come from behind victory.
• Columbia's match against Yale followed a similar trend. The score went back and forth throughout the match, and it again came down to the final bout, with the score tied at 13 all. This time it was Sam Moelis who proved to be the hero, defeating the Bulldog's Aiden Ahn 4-3, and giving the Lions the 14-13 win.
• Nolen Scruggs was named as an All-Ivy League First Teamer in men's foil, while Gabe Canaux was voted as a Second Team All-Ivy performer.
• Columbia is coming off back-to-back NCAA Championships, and the Lions have posted 15 NCAA Team titles, 35 NCAA Individual Champions and 48 Ivy League Championships.

 
Up Next: Vassar will head north to the University of Vermont on Saturday, March 4 for the New England Intercollegiate Fencing Conference Championships in Burlington, VT.