Jan. 31, 2008

BOSTON, MA - The SHU men's fencing team defeated Dartmouth 20-7 but lost to Vassar 18-9, Brown 16-11, Brandeis 21-7 and MIT 17-10 in the first weekend of New England Intercollegiate Fencing Conference (NEIFC) competition this past weekend.

The team was led by freshman foilist Will Puglisi, who went 10-5 on the day.

"Will had a great day today," commented head coach Dr. Tom Vrabel. "He was very consistent and had our only foil win against Brandeis and came back from 4-2 down against MIT All American Spenser Sugimoto for a great win."

"I was very happy with the foil team today. It was too bad that Dan Convery-Zupan was injured against Brown and was lost for the rest of the day's action. He had a great match against Vassar but unfortunately was hurt. He should be ready to go for Stevens Tech this weekend."

Despite the 1-4 match record, team captain Matt Laudicina (9-6) was on point, registering a strong performance in saber. "Matt's game is really coming around and now that he is over a nagging hamstring pull he should do well for the remainder of the season," said coach Vrabel.

The team is back in action on Sunday morning a for a 10:00 AM start against Stevens Tech in Hoboken, NJ.