POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (January 25, 2018) – The Vassar College men's fencing team will jump into conference play this weekend, traveling to Beantown and Boston College to fence five times in what should be a pivot conference day for the Brewers. Vassar went 3-3 out at the Western Invitational, hosted by Stanford University in their last time out back on January 14.
 
Game Details
Opponents: vs. MIT, Tufts, Boston College, Brandeis, Brown (NFC Website)
Site: Chestnut Hill, MA – at Boston College
Facility: Flynn Recreational Complex
Date: January 28, 2018
Time: 10 a.m.
 
Last Time Out: The Brewers went 3-3 at the Western Invitational, scoring victories over CalTech, the University of Florida and the University of the Incarnate Word. VC was knocked off by University of California at San Diego, Stanford and Air Force Academy. The Brewers were paced by Evin Heintz in sabre, who led the team with 11 bout victories, while squad mate Eli Polston picked up nine wins. Freshman Michael Jaklitsch also earned nine wins in epee, with Tom Racek collecting seven bout victories out west.
 
A Look At The Brewers (17-9):
 

• The Brewers will look to its sabre team this weekend to stand out as it has all season, as VC has a 155-75 mark in the weapon in 2017-18.
• Vassar's sabre crew has been led by Evin Heintz, who has 57 total bout victories, including going 3-0 against both UCSD, Air Force and Florida last time out.
• Senior Eli Polston has 31 bout wins this year, while Graeme Mills has also chalked up 26 for VC and senior Eric Lee is 18-6 as a reserve for the Brewers in sabre.
• The strong foil team for the Brewers have a consistent trio of leaders, led by Noe Berger and his 38 bout victories this year as a sophomore.
• Senior Tom Racek has 37 wins as well in foil on the year, while freshman Adlai Brandt-Ogman collecting 35 as well.
• Vassar's deep epee squad has been paced by freshman Michael Jaklitsch, who has 41 wins but the Brewers also have gotten 31 this year from 2017 NCAA Championships qualifier Jonathan Alperstein.
• The epee team went 25-18 at Stanford a few weekends ago, including going 6-3 against a very strong epee team.
• Vassar will look to get off to a strong start this weekend in conference play, as VC is one of three schools to not have fenced in a NFC match, joining Tufts and Dartmouth.

 
A Look At The Competition:
 

• The Brewers will start the day with MIT, who is 4-1 in conference action, falling only to Brandeis 16-11.
• The Engineers are led in epee by Alex Andriatis, who has won 13 of his 15 bouts in NFC action, while teammate Nyle Sykes is 10-1 so far for the NFC's best winning percentage in epee of 90.1.
• The MIT sabre team has seen Tzar Wong post 12 wins in 13 bouts, while Aidan Simpson is 10-5 in NFC action. In foil, Avi Zeff has gone 9-3 in his 12 NFC bouts, while Chris McKinney is 9-5 so far.
• Tufts was 2-8 in Northeast Fencing Conference action last season, so the Jumbos will look to improve on their record for a year ago.
• Host Boston College is 5-0 thus far this season, earning 20 or more bout wins in three of their five wins while sneaking past Sacred Heart 15-12 and defeating Brown 16-11.
• BC's epee team is led by Thomas Ferrante, with squad mate Mateo Rueda going 9-3 so far in conference play.
• Connor Rounds leads a strong sabre team with 13 victories in 15 bouts to lead the NFC, while Ben Slavin is 12-3 as well.
• The foil team for the Golden Eagles is its strongest weapon, with Cameron Mayer and Justin Herman 1-2 in victories in conference action with 13. Teammate Ari Lichy is 12-3 as well.
• The Judges of Brandeis are 5-0 so far, leading the conference in total bout wins.
• Brandeis is paced by the Jake Tyler in epee, who has gone 6-1, as the epee team has struggled through the opening five matches.
• The Judge's starting trio of Kyle Berney, Curtis Wilson and Leon Rotenstein is one of the best groups in the nation, going 23-2 so far in NFC action. Reserves Garett Tordo, Matthew Rothenberg and Charles Catino have been very strong as well.
• The foil team of Alek Broszkowski and Eli Litle are both 7-0, while Jared Sugarman and Ian Quin both chalking up five wins in six bouts.
• Brown has gone 3-2 so far in conference action, defeating BU, University of Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
• Sam Koch has paces the epee team for the Bears, while Sean Feeney and Alex Catoya are 13-2 in sabre. Umar Masood is 11-2 in foil action so far this season.

 
Up Next: Vassar will head to Yale University on Saturday, February 3 at noon for action with the Bulldogs in New Haven, CT.