POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (February 13, 2018) – The Vassar College men's fencing team will look to extend its winning streak this Wednesday evening, traveling to New York to take on two of the top programs in the nation in No. 4 Columbia University and No. 10 New York University in the Historical Meet. Vassar was undefeated during its last day of fencing, going 5-0 in action from the final day of Northeast Fencing Conference (NFC) action.
 
Game Details
Tournament: Historical Meet
Teams: NYU & Columbia
Site: New York, NY – Columbia University
Facility: Blue Gymnasium
Date: February 14, 2018
Time: 6 p.m.
 
Last Time Out: Everything was working for the Brewers last Saturday, as Vassar went 5-0 including a thrilling 14-13 win over Sacred Heart University. Sabre was strong, going 38-5 for the day, led by the 27 combined wins from Eli Polston and Evin Heintz. The foil team saw Tom Racek go 12-3, while epee was paced by the nine wins apiece from freshman Michael Jaklitsch and senior Jonathan Alperstein.
 
A Look At The Brewers (24-13):

• The sabre team has been strong the entire season for the Brewers, chalking up 218 wins on the campaign.
• Evin Heintz has posted a team-best 73 wins this year in sabre, while teammate Eli Polston ranks third on the team with 58 victories.
• The depth on the sabre squad is apparent, as Graeme Mills and Eric Lee each have 28 or more victories while Nicholas Williams has also added 10 in relief duty.
• Sophomore Noe Berger is 44-35 this year in foil, though he missed last weekend's five matches.
• Freshman Adlai Brandt-Ogman has a strong 50-34 mark on the season, while Michael Skolnick added six wins last weekend at Smith.
• Jonathan Alperstein has won 67 percent of his bouts this year, going 50-24, while Jaklitsch leads the epee team with 54 bout wins.
• Senior Daniel Swerzenski is also 45-33 after going 7-2 last weekend.
• Vassar is just one win shy as a team of tying the 2015-16 squad for the second-most wins in program history with 25.

A Look At The #4 Lions (18-6):

• The Lions of Columbia have some serious history to back up their claim as the best collegiate program in the nation, winning 15 NCAA Team Championships along with 48 Ivy League titles.
• Columbia is coming off the Ivy League Round Robins last weekend, where they shared a piece of the title with Harvard and Penn. Each team had a 4-1 mark.
• At Ivy's Calvin Liang finished sixth in men's sabre, winning nine of his 14 bouts, while teammates Joe Cohen and Dawson Sieradzky were tied for the ninth.
• Sidarth Kumbla finished tied for second place in the 2018 Ivy League foil standings thanks to a 10-5 record, while Nolen Scruggs also tied for runner-up with an 8-4 record.
• Gabe Caneax and Porter Hesslegrave are the top epee fencers for the Lions, having combined to go 17-11 at the Ivy League Championships.
• Columbia's foil team has been very strong this year, going 17-2 as a squad in action before the Ivy League Championships.

 
A Look At The #10 Violets (18-9):

• NYU has been fencing very well of late, going undefeated in six matches at the Eric Solee Invitational before falling in a heartbreaker to Harvard 14-13 on February 4.
• In epee, the Violets have been paced by Hans Engel, who has 31 wins this season while Ian Sanders and Alexandre Crepeaux each have 29 apiece.
• The epee team has had 13 competitors fence at least one bout this season.
• Philip Shin is 43-20 this year in foil, while teammate Kyle Welch is also 43-25, showing the strength of the Violets in foil. Zohaib Mannon is also 33-27.
• Mickey Bak leads the entire squad in wins with 47 this season in sabre, while Zachary Schindler is 42-23.
• Grant Williams and Bobby Cottingham have both posted 20 or more wins as well in sabre for the Violets.
• Of the nine losses NYU has, eight have come against teams in the CollegeFencing360.com Top 10 poll, while NJIT is also receiving votes.

 
Up Next: Vassar will head down to Baltimore, MD for action at Johns Hopkins University this Saturday, fencing the Blue Jays twice in the Hopkins Fencing Room.