Fencing Slays Vassar, Sacred Heart, and NYU En Route to NCAA Northeast Regionals

Fresh off winning the Ivy League fencing title last weekend at Princeton, the Columbia fencing teams finished off its regular season schedule at home against Vassar, Sacred Heart, and New York University in Levien Gymnaisum yesterday.

In an encore to their dominant performances throughout this record-setting season, the Lions rolled over all three of their opponents, with blowout victories over Vassar and Sacred Heart. The match against NYU went down to the wire before the Light Blue pulled off a dramatic 14-13 win.

Although the match against NYU was close, the Lions’ wins against Sacred Heart and Vasser were far more indicative of what fans have become accustomed to seeing from the team this season. Columbia has simply been too good for its competition, overpowering other conference foes throughout the duration of the 2007-2008 season.

The rest of the conference has taken notice, as 18 Columbia fencers were awarded All-Ivy honors earlier this week. Of the 18 recipients, 13 were upperclassmen with two sophomores and four freshman rounding out the rest. The ability of younger players to contribute immediately to the team has been one of the key reasons they so successful this year.

Junior Lorenzo Casertano, who earned first team league honors in the men’s epee, commented that Lions’ performances were “a good tune up for the team going into the NCAA and IFA [Intercollegiate Fencing Association Championships]” going forward and that tonight’s wins held significance for the Lions to get “good seedings in the NCAA Northesast Regionals” next Sunday.

In regards to the close call against NYU, Casertano admitted that the team is still on an emotional roller coaster after all of the emotion from the team’s accomplishments this week and that this probably played a role in their matches last night.

“We’re still pretty drained from that championship match,” he said. “It will be good to get some rest over these next few days before regionals.”

The Lions will use the next 10 days to rest up before IFA Championships on Sunday. The team will then head upstate to Poughkeepsie, NY for the NCAA Northeast Regionals on March 2. The NCAA National Championships will be held in Columbus, Ohio from March 13-17.