PHILADELPHIA – The Haverford College women's fencing team opened the 2016-17 season over the weekend at the Temple Open. Now in its 37th year, the Temple Open has become the largest collegiate open in the country.

Senior sabriste Sofia Tieze tied for 22nd place to earn the best result from Haverford on the day. Tieze posted seven wins, including a 5-3 victory over NYU's Oliwia Szumilo. She took just one loss in the preliminary seeding rounds and entered the direct elimination draw seeded 17th in the field of 86 sabristes. Tieze kept her strong day going with a convincing win against her opponent from Drexel in the first direct elimination before losing to Johns Hopkins in the following round.

Also winning their first direct elimination bouts, and placing in the top 32 of their respective events, were sabriste Anna Neuheardt, and co-captain Alexandra Morrison – who represented the foil squad. Neuheardt placed 27th after a win over Temple and a loss to NYU, while Morrison was 25th of 78 total foilists, cruising past her first opponent from Johns Hopkins, 15-3, before falling to host Temple.

Fencing well and showing improvement in the first live action of the year were sophomore sabriste Emily Brown (41st), along with junior epeeists Lauren Pronger (47th) and Amanda Soled (53rd). Senior co-captain Amira Abujbara performed well in the seeding rounds and placed 36th in foil. New team members Julia Albertson and Zuyi Wang placed 64th and 66th, respectively, in epee and foil.

Women's fencing will have the upcoming week away from competition before traveling to Poughkeepsie, New York on Sunday, November 13 to take part in the Vassar Invitational. That meet is scheduled to get underway at 10 a.m.