PHILADELPHIA - The Haverford College women's fencing team competed on Sunday at the 12th annual Philadelphia Invitational hosted by the University of Pennsylvania. The Fords showed flashes of brilliance that have grown in intensity and duration over the season as they captured wins over Farleigh Dickinson University, Lafayette College, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), and Drew University.
The Fords were led by the efforts of the epee squad, which was undefeated on the day, including 5-4 wins over Duke and Johns Hopkins. All four epeeists had winning records as sophomore Juliana Petersen led the group with an 11-2 stamp, followed closely by teammates Sarah Sofia (10-3), Alexis Auer (9-2) and Anjali Baliga (6-5).
A young and inexperienced sabre squad proved its quick development under the tutelage of squad leader and veteran sabriste Shannon Horn, who led all scoring on all squads for the day, with an amazing 12-1 record. Horn was undefeated against rival Johns Hopkins and suffered her only loss of the tournament to Duke University's Anjelica Hubbard, 5-4. Sophomore Elisabeth Hawthorne posted a personal-best record of 7-9 against stiff competition while junior Leslie Tjing returned from a long sabbatical to strengthen the sabre squad, winning five of 15 bouts in her second tournament of the season. Senior Katie Elbert led the scoring for the foil squad at 7-3, including two wins against Duke Blue Devils Anisha Mukherjee and Samantha Lee. Sophomore foilist Leila Braun also showed her improvement over the season by posting a winning tab at 10-7.
The Haverford fencers will travel to Boston next weekend to compete in the Eric Sollee Memorial Tournament at Brandeis University.
Haverford def. Farleigh Dickinson, 19-8
Epee: 8-1
Foil: 6-3
Sabre: 5-4
Duke def. Haverford, 17-10
E: 4-5
F: 7-2
S: 6-3
Haverford def. Lafayette, 19-8
E: 8-1
F: 4-5
S: 7-2
Haverford def. NJIT, 20-7
E: 7-2
F: 8-1
S: 5-4
Johns Hopkins def. Haverford, 16-11
E: 4-5
F: 7-2
S: 5-4
Haverford def. Drew, 21-6
E: 9-0
F: 6-3
S: 6-3