Tigers Stab Weak Swordsmen, 15-12

The Harvard men's fencing team Saturday lost its first Ivy League match of the year, bowing to Princeton 15-12 at the IAB.

The Crimson sabremen once again anchored the Harvard effort winning their event, 5-4. As in past meets they were let down by weaker performances by the foilsmen, who lost 6-3 and epeemen who lost 5-4.

Unhappy

Despite the Crimson's strong showing in the sabre event, coach Branmir Zivkovic indicated he was disappointed with the sabremen's efforts. "It looks good on paper but they lost a few key bouts they should have won," Zivkovic said yesterday, adding, "They lost us the meet."

The sabremen dropped their first three bouts but sliced through five of their next six Tiger opponents. Freshman David Heyman and captain Jim Goldenring each went 2-1 for the afternoon, parrying and lunging aggressively.

Comet

The foilsmen looked particularly weak with only freshman David Merner, who won two and lost one, fencing skillfully. Merner has looked progressively stronger in every meet for the Crimson, and the freshman swordsman will be a solid anchor for future Harvard teams.

The epeemen battled well against a very strong Princeton squad in their losing effort.

The loss was a bitter one for the Crimson. The Princeton team was tired after coming off a defeat at the hands of Yale the day before. As Merner said, "We should have beaten them. We were sloppy at key times and failed to take advantage of our opportunities."