Fichter Upset Rescues Crimson Fencers, 14-13

Dave Fichter upset MIT's strongest fencer, Mike Asherman, 5-4 in the last foil bout to enable Harvard to turn back a surprising MIT squad, 14-13, last night at MIT's DuPont Athletic Center. The Engineers had come back from an imposing 12-6 second round deficit to knot the score, and set up the dramatic final bout.

Fichter's exciting victory capped a great evening for him. He displayed polished style in sweeping all three of his bouts. Fichter was strongly supported by Ken Hetzler and Terry Valenzuela in the sabre and by Ken Bartels in the epee, both of whom took two of their three bouts.

Fichter's performance was particularly important since Harvard is not strong in the foil. He salvaged what was otherwise a trying evening in the event--Crimson foilers managed to win only two of six other bouts.

As expected, Harvard showed solid strength in the sabre and in the epee, although it was somewhat diminished by MIT's surprising overall strength.

Coach Edo Marion frankly admitted after the match that he didn't think Fichter would beat Asherman.

"Fichter has nice style, but is a little slow, while Asherman has been fencing for four or five years and is the strongest competitor for MIT," he said.

Crimson captain Geza Tatrallyay, fencing in the foil rather than in his customary epee, suffered a disappointing evening at the hands of the Engineers. Tatrallyay could manage only one victory in three bouts.

Coach Marion, who likens fencing to chess in terms of strategy, almost saw his tactics backfire. Substituting liberally in the third round, he saw MIT come back from a seemingly insurmountable deficit to tie the score. He defended his strategy, asserting that "If a team can't take one bout out of six, we deserve to loss."