EWFC Direct Elimination Tournament Results
MANHATTAN, N.Y. – The Haverford College women's fencing team traveled to Hunter College for the 16th annual Eastern Women's Fencing Conference (EWFC) Championship over the weekend. This event brings together the top Division III teams in the Mid-Atlantic and New York Area.
The Fords took a step forward from a season ago as they placed third overall at the meet. The team placed fourth overall at the 2015 EWFC Championship. Haverford started out the day with wins in each of its first four matches. The Fords' closest battle of the opening four rounds was a 16-11 victory against Drew. The team also recorded 19-8 victories over Hunter and CCNY, while also coming through with a resounding 24-3 victory against Yeshiva.
Matched up with Stevens – the eventual team champion – in the fifth round, the Fords suffered their first setback of the day. However, the team responded well with a 14-13 win against Vassar. Saturday's victory avenged an earlier defeat from back in November. The Fords were topped by Johns Hopkins, 17-10, to round out their team competition.
Once the Dual Meet Championship was decided, the fencers returned to the strips for direct elimination tournaments in each of the three weapon classifications in order to determine this season's EWFC All-Star Teams. This marks the second time the conference has held both its dual meet and individual tournaments on the same day and at the same location.
Haverford was represented by six fencers in the direct elimination tournament. Julie Petersen earned first-team All-EWFC honors in epee for the third time in her career. Entering the draw as the top seed, Petersen racked up an impressive 30 touches, while allowing just 10 opponent touches in the opening two rounds. She was edged out, 13-12, by eventual Champion Julie McEldoon of Stevens in the semifinals before placing fourth. Leila Braun and Amanda Soled joined Petersen in the Round of 16 for the epee direct elimination. Alexandra Morrison was the team's lone representative in foil. Both Morrison and Braun missed out an EWFC All-Star honors by just one spot.
Sofia Tieze earned second-team All-EWFC honors in sabre for the second straight season after entering that draw seeded eighth. She won her first direct elimination bout, 15-11, to move into the quarterfinals and was eventually credited with a sixth place finish. Anna Neuheardt entered the sabre draw seeded seventh. Although she was edged out, 15-14, in the round of 16, she was also awarded with second-team All-EWFC honors after she was credited with an eighth place finish. This marked the first time since the 2013 season that Haverford had two sabre fencers selected as EWFC All-Stars.
Women's fencing will return home for its Alumnae Match & Banquet this Saturday. Fencing gets underway at 11 a.m. with the banquet to follow at 1 p.m. The Fords will also be in action at the rescheduled Philadelphia Invitational that is now set for Sunday, February 21 at the University of Pennsylvania.
EWFC Dual Meet Championship Results
R1: Stevens 27-0 Yeshiva ... JHU 24-3 Hunter ... Haverford 16-11 Drew ... Vassar 21-06 CCNY
R2: JHU 22-5 Drew ... Vassar 25-2 Yeshiva .... Stevens 21-6 CCNY .... Haverford 19-8 Hunter
R3: Vassar 21-6 Hunter ... JHU 20-7 CCNY .... Haverford 24-3 Yeshiva .... Stevens 22-5 Drew
R4: Haverford 19-8 CCNY ... Vassar 18-9 Drew .... Stevens 23-4 Hunter .... JHU 27-0 Yeshiva
R5: Drew 25-2 Yeshiva ... Stevens 22-5 Haverford .... JHU 18-9 Vassar .... Hunter 17-9 CCNY
R6: Stevens 16-11 JHU ... Hunter 19-7 Yeshiva ... Drew 18-9 CCNY ... Haverford 14-13 Vassar
R7: Drew 18-9 Hunter ... JHU 17-10 Haverford ... Stevens 20-7 Vassar .... CCNY 19-7 Yeshiva
EWFC 2015-16 DUAL MEET STANDINGS
7-0 Stevens Institute of Technology
6-1 Johns Hopkins University
5-2 Haverford College
4-3 Vassar College
3-4 Drew University
2-5 Hunter College
1-6 City College of New York
0-7 Yeshiva University