Swordsmen Foil Cornell, 17-10; Women Fencers Succumb, 10-6

The undefeated men's fencing team traveled to snow-covered Ithaca Friday to beat the Cornell swordsmen, 17-10, on their own strips.

Hampered by poor directing and insufficient warm-up time, the sabre squad was plagued by a lack of concentration throughout their meet. Only All-American sabreman David Heyman went 2-0 for the meet and boosted his personal intercollegiate record to an unbeaten 25-0. The rest of the Crimson's first-ranked squad failed to rally and lost its share of the match, 4-5, for the first time this season.

Foil and Epee Flash

While the sabre squads fell short on the strip, the foil and epee squads dominated their opponents, 6-3 and 7-2, respectively.

On the foil strip, the "foreign connection"--Canadian siblings Michael and David Merner and Zimbabwean Rhodes Scholar Stanlake Samkange--teamed upinan impressive recovery after last week's defeat at the hands of Princeton.

First-ranked foilsman David Merner tallied a perfect 3-0 while leading last year's ECAC and Ivy Champions to victory.

In epee, sophomore Steve Kauffer spearheaded the Crimson effort, capturing three wins and maintaining his perfect season record. Senior Paul Crnkovich and Captain Bill Marshall also took two bouts each.

Overall, it was the ninth victory of the season for the swordsmen, who are currently one of only two undefeated winter teams.

Currently 2-0 in the Ivy League, the Crimson will host Columbia and UPenn this weekend in a match which could be decisive in the closely contested race for the championship.

Women Fall

The swordswomen also met Cornell this weekend but fell 10-6 to a superior Big Red team.

Despite their defeat, Captain Carolyn Powell said last night that she was pleased with the swordswomen's showing, particularly since their third-ranked fencer, junior Beth Schwinn, was out with back injuries. "We haven't even come close in the last four years, we've had scores like 14-2 and 15-1," Powell said. "This is their smallest margin of victory since I've been here."

Team members did score a few personal victories: Sophomore Vivi Fuchs took three of her four bouts while Powell beat Cornell's first-ranked woman, who won a major tournament in New York over Christmas vacation.

Next week, the team will move into its high-powered home stretch, fencing Wellesley, Barnard and UPenn before a final meet with Yale.