In its first Ivy League match of the year, the Harvard fencing team took a 10-8 lead into the final round against Princeton only to see it crumble as an aggressive Tiger squad rallied to win five out of the last six bouts and eke out a 14-13 win.

As the last period opened, the Crimson sabre team took two out of three to put Harvard in a strong position to capture a win in its first Ivy test. Captain Terry Valenzuela started the show by winning his bout, and after a Gordon Rutledge loss (5-4 and controversial at that) Walt Morris upped the Crimson lead to three (12-9) with a 5-0 triumph.

Couldn't Lose

"I didn't feel how we could lose," Crimson coach Edo Marion bemoaned yesterday. "We had only to take two out of six and we would have had the 14 points [needed to win.]" Chris Jennings moved Harvard a step closer, toying with Tiger All-American Dan Wygodsky, before winning easily to move up the score to 13-10.

But then disaster struck. Neither Eugene White nor Ken Bartels was able to come up with a winning bout in epee to assure a team victory. White was particularly frustrated, leading 4-1 before giving up four straight touches to lose 5-4.

Folled Again

And so, needing to take but one of three foil bouts to win, Harvard's foil squad dropped three straight to give Princeton an important Ivy triumph. Dave Fichter followed the White script in his final round bout, grabbing a quick 3-0 lead, then losing, 5-3. "I thought David would be able to score two touches before the other fellow scored five, but fate was against us," Marion said.

The Harvard record now stands at 5-2, but the Crimson hasn't yet beaten a strong squad. With the meat of the Ivy schedule coming up, the squad must pull itself to the level of its pre-season propaganda if it hopes to be a serious factor in the Ivy Race.