MANHATTAN, N.Y. (February 21, 2010) – The Stevens Institute of Technology women's fencing team dropped a heartbreaker Sunday at the Eastern Women's Fencing Conference Championships held at Hunter College. After 162 bouts, the Ducks were deadlocked in the standings, with the championship coming down to one last matchup between two fencers from Haverford College and Johns Hopkins University. After the final touch was called, Stevens was forced to settle for an extremely close second-place finish. The Ducks raised their record to 24-4 on the season after today's bouts.

It was an historic day in many respects for Stevens. Both the epee and saber teams broke the school record for wins in a season during Sunday's action. Senior Danielle Bisson tied the Stevens individual record for most wins in a season and junior Meagan Ritter earned her 100th career victory. The Saber squad was defeated all the other schools to take the unofficial saber championship for the first time as well.

Freshman Juliet Turalski was 15-3 on the day to lead the saberists, who also got great performances from senior captain Erica Mondadori at 11-7 and sophomore Krista Sticco at 12-6.

The epee team that set the new record was composed of freshman Krystal Perkins, who turned in an outstanding record of 13-1, Briana Nieradka who was 13-3, the undefeated Stephanie Spelman at 4-0 and Ritter, who eclipsed the century mark with her 11-7 record.

In foil, Alexis Clyburn was 9-7 and Danielle Bisson posted a 9-9 record on her way to Steven's all-time wins lead. Ann DeStefano was undefeated on the day as well, posting a 3-0 ledger.

The Ducks will be back in action Monday against Queens College in a home match, beginning at 5 p.m.