Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Dudas Previews 2010 Fencing Season, Opening Saturday
January 28, 2010 | Men's Fencing, Women's Fencing
PRINCETON -- Princeton's men's and women's fencing teams will kick off their dual-meet season this weekend at Northwestern where the Tigers will face a number of their fellow highly-ranked teams.
Saturday's schedule includes women's matches against UC San Diego, Caltech, Cleveland State, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Detroit and Wayne State. Men's matches are against North Carolina, Notre Dame, Detroit, Ohio State, Stanford and Lawrence.
The teams will be busy again Sunday, with the women facing Duke, Ohio State, Fairleigh Dickinson, North Carolina, Temple, Johns Hopkins, Stanford and Lawrence, and the men facing Cleveland State, UC San Diego, Caltech, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern and Wayne State.
Princeton finished eighth at the NCAA Championships a year ago and return all five of their All-Ivy fencers from 2009, a list that includes Susannah Scanlan, Lucile Jarry, Andrea Oliva, Cooper Gegan and Alexander Mills. Of Princeton's eight NCAA finals qualifiers from last season, seven are back, including John Stogin, Mills, Graham Wicas, Mike Elfassy, Jarry, Oliva and Scanlan. Wicas had the high finish among Tigers at the NCAAs in 2009, taking silver in men's epee.
According to the first USFCA coaches' poll of 2010, Princeton's men are ranked No. 4 in the nation and Princeton's women are ranked No. 9. The men's team is scheduled to face three fellow top-10 teams at the Northwestern event, including No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Ohio State and No. 10 Duke, while the women will meet four fellow top-10 schools in No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 5 Northwestern, No. 6 Ohio State and No. 7 Temple.
Next weekend, Princeton will host the other four fencing schools in New Jersey, including Drew, Fairleigh Dickinson, Stevens Tech and NJIT.