Our men’s team traveled to NJIT for MACFA BvC. Our final event of the MACFA regular season pitted our team against four varsity schools and the U.S. Military Academy.
Saber
Men’s saber left MACFA BvC with numerous varsity wins and a lot of valuable experience. Matthew Dreher ’20, Michael Zessin ’23, and Nickolas Boylan ’22 took on NJIT, Stevens, Army, Yeshiva, and Hunter. Matthew branched out from his usual weapon of foil and unleashed his unconventional but effective techniques to win bouts against Hunter, Yeshiva, Stevens, and Army. In addition to scoring four varsity wins, Matthew kept the team’s spirits high with his positive attitude. Michael immensely improved his fencing over the course of the year, and earned his first varsity win against Yeshiva through the use of his skillful pulls and quick blade work. Nickolas won seven bouts, five of which came over varsity opponents. Men’s saber is happy to have once again shown that in fencing, funding isn’t everything, and are excited for their next competition.
Foil:
Zach Roberts ’22 and Zahl Azizi ’22 represented men’s foil for this tournament. Despite an injury Zahl sustained early on, he took on a coaching role, helping to analyze the patterns of opponents and giving valuable bouting advice to Zach. Through Orpheus’s swift feint-disengages, a strong defense, and the calculated coaching of Kraken, he pulled off multiple victories against varsity fencers. Zach led men’s foil to a 3-2 victory over Hunter College, sealing the school-wide victory for W&M. Despite the lack of a full squad going into this tournament, men’s foil is ready to take on MACFA Champs at full strength.
Épée:
Roger White ’23, Winston Palmer ’23, Ben Witman ’20, and Pulak Raj ’20 had a great day representing Men’s épée at NJIT. Winston fenced using his aggressive and overwhelming style to march his opponents down the strip. Roger, fencing his first varsity opponents ever, won multiple varsity bouts by catching his opponents out with his explosive fleche. Ben stepped in after Pulak fenced a few bouts against NJIT. His strong parry 2s and stophits scored him many points and he improved constantly throughout the day. After fencing all of their preliminary MACFA bouts, men’s épée is looking forward to making a statement at MACFA Champs.
After a weekend at home for the Conomikes-Gutenberg Memorial Open, our men’s team will head to Drew University on March 1 for the MACFA Championship!
Victories over Varsity Fencers (a full list of victories since 2012 can be found here)
MS: Matthew Dreher, Nicko Boylan, Michael Zessin (first)
MF: Zach Roberts (first)
ME: Roger White (first)