Quaker Fencers Slash Crimson, 15-12

An undefeated and Ivy title-bound Penn fencing squad came up with big wins in the clutch yesterday as it clipped Harvard's frustrated fencers 15-12 in the IAB.

The loss, which left the Crimson's Ivy record at 0-3, didn't come until the final duels of the day when an outclassed epee squad proved unequal to the Quaker task.

A last minute Eric Read victory went for naught as the epee team dropped six of its nine contests. Read went 2-1, John Hirschfeld 1-2 and Matt Simmons a disappointing 0-3.

Ignorant Director

Harvard coach Edo Marian said yesterday that a "great mistake" by the referee caused Simmon's close loss in his third, most crucial contest.

"The bout was taken away from us by the director's ignorance of the rules," he said.

Quaker coach Dave Micahnik, who complained to the ref about point calls in virtually every bout, remained angry even when the match was over and his team had won.

"There are rules in fencing; they ought to be followed," he said.

The officiating proved to be a problem in the foil competition as well when nationally-ranked Crimson captain Phillippe Bennett lost a tight one to the Quakers' Eric Wolfson on a touch decision that Marian said the ref made "much too fast."

Zorro

"But Zorro just didn't produce," Marion said.

None of the foil competitors did for that matter. John Major lost two of his three bouts, and although Bennett and Gene Vastola both came away from the match with 2-1 records, a couple of shut-out performances would have helped matters immensely.

Vastola, a southpaw, got caught napping in his first bout as his Penn-sylvania opponent took him for a 5-3 ride.

In his next two contests, however, Vastola came back to win "labelle" or sudden death tie-breaking victories.

The saber duelers, all of whom only started dueling in the saber competition at the beginning of the season, also had their share of difficulties.

Nicholas Tepe had a day of extremes as he got blitzed in his first bout 0-5 but turned the tables and came up with 5-0 and 5-3 triumphs later in the afternoon.

After losing 3-5, John Chipman copped a pair of 5-2 wins while Larry Tu did the reverse--taking his first contest and losing the second two.