A rare yet exciting spectacle was beheld on the fencing strips of Temple University Saturday, as the Columbia Lions and the Nittany Lions battled down to a decision in their final two bouts.

Columbia pulled out a 14-13 pressure cooker and dealt Penn State its only loss of the season --and its first in two years.

The unusual event occurred during the second bout, after Penn State handily beat a very strong Navy team, 25-2. With Columbia leading 13-12 as the last two matches came to a close, Penn State lost its epee bout and won its foil bout almost simultaneously, sealing the Columbia's emotional victory.

Despite closing out the season with the only blemish on their 13-1 tally, sullen and disconsolate faces were not to be found on coaches and team members at practice yesterday.

"There is the sense that, 'Damn, they got away from us!' " Coach Emmanuil Kaidanov said. "But not that the world has ended. Nobody's happy, but nobody's breaking their head off the wall."

Kaidanov mentioned the factor of officiating mistakes, but refused to attribute the loss to those errors. He would not even label the blunders as frustrating.

"I wouldn't say the loss was unavoidable," he said evenly. "There were a few unfortunate officiating mistakes, but I don't want to blame the loss on anything other than that Columbia wanted to win the match more than we did. They were hungrier."

Assistant Coach Wes Glon was reminded of the days when Penn State was a scrappy contender rather than the ruler of the collegiate fencing that it has become in recent years.

"We were challengers for years," he said. "We were like hungry lions; we did everything possible to win. Now every team puts their maximum effort against us and is really out to get us.

"Every victory and every loss is another experience," he said. "Further success is based on how you capitalize on the event."

Both coaches agreed on two points: first, that good can come from the loss as long as the team learns from the experience, and second, that despite the loss, the match was thoroughly enjoyable and exciting.

In the third match against Haverford College, Penn State recovered and posted a 20-7 victory.

On the women's side, the Lady Lions eclipsed any expectations that were held for them against their most forbidable opponents of the year -- Temple and Columbia.

"I must say that I have never seen the women as strong as they were against Temple," Kaidanov said. "They were so composed, so focused. Neither mistakes of the officials nor the excellent fencing of their opponents could stop them."

The women took down the highly-touted Lady Owls 14-2, and then sputtered momentarily before pulling away from Columbia with a 10-6 decision. The Lady Lions also outclassed Haverford, 15-1.

Suzie Paxton, whose status for the competition had been questionable due to an ankle injury, put together what Kaidanov termed "an excellent performance" en route to a 6-3 day. He also had kind words for the other fencers.

"Olga Chernyak was unbeatable. Jennifer Prifrel and Katie Kowalski were also very strong," he said. "They were all great."

Chernyak, Prifrel and Kowalski finished the day with 9-0, 7-2 and 6-3 records, respectively.