CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - This past Saturday, the Drew University men's and women's fencing teams continued their march through the 2019-2020 schedule at Boston College with their first invitation to compete against Northeast Fencing Conference (NFC) opponents in almost a decade.

For the Rangers, the invitation to play against NFC opponents represented a major upgrade in the quality of their schedule.

"We have been striving to increase the difficulty of our schedule to provide more challenge to our student athletes," said Drew Head Coach Vincent Paragano. "The more difficult schedule also increases our 'strength factor' for consideration for invitations to the NCAA Regionals. Getting the commissioners of the Northeast Fencing Conference to issue an invitation to Drew University is the culmination of three years of work and is a testament to how far we have come in rebuilding this 90-year-old program."

Despite spirited play and numerous outstanding individual performances, both the Ranger men's and women's teams fell victim in their matches against Brandeis University, Brown University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston College. On the upside, the teams performed well in their matches against Dartmouth College. The men came back from a four-bout deficit, with épée fencer James Stevens winning the clinching bout in a 14-13 victory. In the women's bracket, the Rangers earned a convincing 23-4 victory over Dartmouth. The teams also split their matches against Tufts University, with the men cruising to a 21-6 victory and the women narrowly losing 15-12. The women will get a shot at revenge against Tufts at the Feb. 8 Fairleigh Dickinson Invitational.

The women's best overall performance of the day was recorded by senior foil fencer Lydia Segal. Her 13-3 record for the day was among the top at the event. The event also featured the 200th career victory by junior Saber fencer and team captain Emily Huber.

Drew Laun was tops among male foil fencers with a 9-9 record on the day. Meanwhile, men's saber fencer Luca Rampazzo turned in another fine performance, going 11-5 for the day. Also contributing on the men's side were Stevens (7-3 on the day) and Nicholas Panarin (6-5).

Despite the losses on Saturday, the men's team still holds a stellar win-loss record of 47-17 (.734 winning percentage) while the women's team has been just as impressive with an overall 33-14 record (.702 winning percentage). 

The teams return to action in two weeks. The men travel to Baltimore on Feb. 9 with the continuation of their MACFA Conferenceseason at Johns Hopkins University. The men's opponents will include Johns Hopkins University, College of William and Mary, the United States Naval Academy, University of Maryland and Haverford College. The women will compete in Teaneck, N.J. at the Fairleigh Dickinson Invitational on February 8 and then will travel to Johns Hopkins University for the A-vs-C "Women's Shadow Meet", with matches against Johns Hopkins, Haverford, and Lafayette College, among others.