Feb. 10, 2008

WELLESLEY, MA - The Sacred Heart women's fencing team had its best day of the year on Saturday at Wellesley as they defeated Boston College 15-12, Tufts, 15-12, UMASS 19-8, New Hampshire 19-8 and Boston University 21-6. The only loss of the day was a heartbraking one-touch loss to Wellesley 14-13. The Pioneers finished conference play with an 8-4 mark which earned them 4th place in the 13-team conference.

"This was a truly fantastic day for us," said head coach Dr. Tom Vrabel. "For us to go 8-4 this year with wins over BC, MIT, and Tufts while two-thirds of our starters are in their first year at SHU is really incredible. With fencers like Amanda Green coming in next year, a league championship may be in sight."

Starring for Sacred Heart were the saber trio of squad captain Krista Bacci (16-2), Anna Hanley (17-1) and Kayla Cronin (10-3).

"This saber squad just keeps getting better and better," said Vrabel. "Bacci and Hanley have a great chance at being first team all league selections, and Cronin's development has been truly remarkable. If we can get our other two weapons to acheive to the level of saber, we will become a top ten national program, I'm sure."

In addition to the excellence of the saber squad, the epee team was also strong, going 32-20 on the day. The squad was led by the twelve win performances of the two Alli's, Allison Ratis (12-4) and Alison Roach (12-5).

"The epee squad came up real big against BC (going 6-3), and that was the factor that won the match for us," said Vrabel. On paper, we shouldn't have had a chance. I guess our ladies don't read the press clippings and just take care of business."

Rounding out the day was the exceptional performance of freshman foilist JoAnne Siskidis, who went 16-2 on Saturday. "Jo just picked up from where she left off at Stevens Tech last week", comments Vrabel. "Her emergence and consistency has been crucial in the team's success this year"

The women are back in action for their final dual meet competition at Columbia University on Wednesday at 5 PM.