Sacred Heart
Vassar Invitational
Pioneers Go 5-0 at Vassar Invitational
11/15/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Fencing
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - The Sacred Heart men's fencing team kicked off their 2015-2016 dual meet season with a sweep of their competition at the 2015 Vassar Invitational. Sacred Heart was perfect on the day with wins over Haverford (17-10), Yeshiva (23-4), Lafayette (24-3), Hunter (23-4), and Stevens Tech (15-12).
The keynote match of the day was against a determined Stevens Tech team. Both teams were perfect going into their match in the late afternoon. The Pioneers led after the first round 5-4 thanks to 2-1 records from foil and epee. Sacred Heart expanded the lead to 10-8 after a second round where the epee and saber squads went 2-1. Epee and saber again paced the Pioneers with 2-1 results in the third round to cap off the 15-12 win. Junior team captain and epeeist Cody Richard and Freshman saber fencer Cory Meola both had perfect 3-0 performances in this match.
Foil was the overall leader on the day, going 38-7. They were led by Sophomore Tyler Endee (11-1) and Seniors Alex Harwood (11-2) and Joseph Faicco (10-2.) Epee followed with a 34-11 mark and was anchored by Cody Richard and Freshmen Romain Canone who both finished the day at 10-2. The Saber squad was 30-15 for the day and was paced by Cory Meola (9-3) and Senior Kevin Stimmel (7-4).
"Considering that we fielded seven new starters today we had a good day", said head coach Dr. Thomas Vrabel. "Tyler Endee was very solid and his game has progressed nicely from last season. Harwood and Faicco have made progress but they still need to improve their balance and distance to be able to compete effectively against the tougher teams that we will be facing."
"Cody Richard was very solid in epee today and after a few early jitters he controlled the rest of his bouts," Vrabel added. "Romain Canonne was on most of the day but he needs to avoid mental lapses that cost him to bouts that he should win. He will improve in this area with more experience with fencing at the college level. Dante Centeno felt the pressure from being in his first college dual meets but he came on strong at the end of the Stevens match and I know that he will be ready for the big Conference matches coming up next weekend".
"Our revamped saber squad fought hard today", said assistant coach Matthew Laudicina. "Cory Meola was solid and was able to adapt his game to coaching instruction as the day went on. The rest of our fencers were able to see what they need to work on to improve their effectiveness. We hope to have Dan Marchelitis back from an injury for next week's events and he and Meola will be a solid one two punch for us. I look for someone to step up and separate himself from the crowd at practice this week to take the C strip responsibilities for next weekend."
The Pioneers are back in action on Saturday, November 21st at Brown University in Providence for the Northeast Conference Meet # 1. Action will begin at 10 AM.
Players Mentioned
