Heading into the NCAA fencing championships this past weekend at Brandeis University, Penn State's goal was to avenge last year's loss to Notre Dame.

That goal was fulfilled, but Penn State found itself the second-best fencing team in the country again this year, this time falling to Ohio State, which had 194 points. Penn State gained 160 points, seven more than Notre Dame's 153.

Penn State trailed Notre Dame by five points going into the fourth and final day, and started 22 points behind Ohio State.

"There was maybe a small doubt that we were going to catch up to Notre Dame," sophomore saber fencer Marten Zagunis said.

"We said there was no way these turkeys are gonna get away with it again. We wanted to beat Notre Dame and we did."

Zagunis led all Penn State men with a fourth-place finish. He lost to Ohio State's Adam Crompton in the semifinals, 15-10. If the referee's calls had given Zagunis a few close touches, who knows how far Zagunis could have gone?

"Honestly, I showed up convinced I was going to win," Zagunis said. "The hardest thing is to fight against two people at the same time; your opponent and the referee. There definitely was some bad calls."

On the women's side, freshman Sophia Hiss shined brightest. She finished higher than any Nittany Lion, gaining the silver in saber. In the semifinals, she beat No. 1 seed Emma Baratta of Columbia/Barnard, 15-13. Notre Dame's Valerie Providenza ended her day, 15-8, in the gold medal bout.

Hiss started the season fencing foil, but made the switch to saber in January because of injuries.

"She's a talented kid," Penn State fencing coach Emmanuil Kaidanov said. "She got in the right place at the right time and she was phenomenal."

Katarzyna Trzopek finished in sixth place after not making it to the semifinals to defend the epee title she won last year as a freshman.

In women's foil, Anna Donath finished seventh and Meredith Chin got ninth. Case Szarwark ended up at 18th in epee and senior Heather Brosnan took eighth place in saber.

Right behind Zagunis in saber was freshman Ian Farr, who took fifth. In foil Ian Schlaepfer got seventh and Jake Clark was 18th.

Adam Wiercioch was fifth-best in epee and Alex Bruske wound up in 24th.

Penn State has not finished worse than second place in the combined championships since the event began in 1990. That streak was in danger for a little, but Kaidanov's team pulled through again.

"Second place in the nation is not too bad," Kaidanov said. "Ohio State was a very good team and it was hard to beat with our fencers that didn't have much experience. I think we finished the season on a high note."