STATE COLLEGE, Pa. January 21, 2004 - The Penn State men's and women's fencing teams will host their final dual meets of the season this Saturday at the White Building. Both squads are ranked third in the first United States Fencing Coaches Association poll released today. They will be looking to pick up valuable wins as they enter the home stretch of the dual meet season.
The day's action is set to begin at 9 a.m., when the Nittany Lions square off against North Carolina. The two schools were scheduled to meet at Penn State's first dual meet back in December, but severe weather kept the Tar Heels at home for the weekend.
In one of the most anticipated match-ups of the weekend, Penn State will battle perennial rival St. John's at 10:30 a.m. At last year's NCAA Championships at the U.S. Air Force Academy, the Nittany Lions came from behind to edge out the Red Storm by just nine points and earn second place in the race for the Combined National Championship. This season, the St. John's men's team is ranked fourth, while the women's squad received a seventh-place ranking.
At noon, the Penn State men's team will face Haverford College, while the Nittany Lion women take on Hunter College. Both Penn State squads will close out the day against Duke, with the dual set to begin at 1:30 p.m.
The Penn State men's and women's teams both currently stand at 0-1 after suffering heartbreaking one-point losses to defending National Champion Notre Dame in December. In both losses, the Nittany Lions won two of the three weapons, but the Fighting Irish scored enough points in the third weapon to claim the narrow victory. Notre Dame's men's and women's teams are both ranked first in the USFCA poll.
Defending women's epee National Champion Katarzyna Trzopek (Warsaw, Poland) and three-time All-American Adam Wiercioch (Gliwice, Poland) will be looking to remain undefeated in dual meet bouts this weekend. Both of the Nittany Lion standouts went 3-0 against the talented Fighting Irish.
This weekend's dual meet is the first in a series of three meets for the Nittany Lions, leading up to the Mid-Atlantic/South Regionals on March 13.
