Men, Women Fencers Routed By UPenn, Columbia Squads

Both the men's and women's fencing teams suffered a complete rout this weekend. The swordsmen fell by unusually large scores to UPenn (21-6) and Columbia (15-12), and the swords women suffered equally severe defeats at the hands of UPenn (14-2) and Barnard (9-7).

Although the swordsmen had few hopes of beating the UPenn squad--one of the top-ranked teams in the nation--they had expected to give the Quakers a difficult time.

Instead one Crimson weapon squad after another capitulated--with the usually powerful, epee squad losing all nine boute. Even epee star Steve Kauffer, previously undefeated in season combel, was unable to garner a single bout.

Ironically, the only real fighting of the day proceeded the meet; a blow-up between Harvard coach Ben Zivkovic and UPenn mentor Dave Micahaik delayed the match 45 minutes and demoralized the Crimson team. Both the men's and the women's captains yesterday attributed their squads' defeat to the coaches' pre-meet squabble.

The trouble centered around a relatively minor and technical point of fencing rules. Zivkovic wanted the three weapons--foil, epee, and sabre--to be fenced simultaneously on three adjacent strips. Micahnik insisted that sabre bouts go first.

After half an hour of argument--during which time Micahnik threatened to withdraw his team--the UPenn coach eventually agreed to discuss the issue with his squad.

While he was gone, Zivkovic started the time clock and when the UPenn team entered about 10 minutes later, the Harvard coach announced that the Quakers had forfeited their first nine bouts. Eventually--after both the sabre side judges and directors intervened--the meet began 45 minutes behind schedule.

But that 45-minute delay was enough. While the UPenn team remained in the locker room warming up, the Harvard team stood on the strip. "It was a tragedy," Marshall said. "It affected the team psychologically and certainly ruined the meet for Harvard."