Season overview: The 2018-19 season witnessed the Haverford College women's fencing team show great progress throughout the year, highlighted by multiple individual breakout stars. That steady progress ultimately led the Fords to a fifth-place finish at the EWFC Championships, matching its performance from a season ago. Haverford also qualified six fencers to the NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regional, considered by many to be the toughest regional at the college level. Championship season began with three All-EWFC fencers for the team as Hanna Kopits (first-team foil), Katie Bradley (second-team epee), and Maia Carvalho (second-team epee) were all peaking as the postseason got underway.
Season Notes: Sophomore Hanna Kopits and junior Katie Bradley are now two-time EWFC All-Stars during their careers, while Maia Carvalho earned EWFC All-Star status during her rookie season … Kopits is the first foil fencer in Haverford history to earn first-team All-EWFC honors twice during her career and she still has two more seasons to add to her resume … Haverford's two All-EWFC performances in epee (Bradley and Carvalho) marked the most for the Fords' epeeists since Julie Petersen '16 and Sarah Sofia '14 during the 2013 season … The Fords qualified three epeeists to the NCAA Regional Championships for the first time since the 2011-12 season … Not taking a backseat to her epee squadmates, Sarah Blossom was Haverford's highest finisher at the regional meet with a 24th place showing … Haverford also qualified two foilists to the regional championship for the first time since 2016 while Emily Brown represented the sabre squad in her third straight appearance at regionals.
Awards/Honors
- All-EWFC: Hanna Kopits (first-team; foil), Katie Bradley (second-team; epee), Maia Carvalho (second-team; epee)
- NIWFA All-Academic Team: Anna Neuheardt
- NCAA Regional qualifiers: Sarah Blossom (24th; epee), Katie Bradley (29th; epee), Maia Carvalho (34th; epee), Hanna Kopits (25th; foil), Golda Glasser (35th; foil), Emily Brown (34th; sabre)
- Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Team: Katie Bradley, Anna Neuheardt
Looking ahead: Senior sabrists and three-time NCAA Regional qualifiers Emily Brown and Anna Neuheardt will graduate from Haverford this spring, but have left quite of legacy behind them. Neuheardt was also an EWFC and NIWFA All-Star throughout her career before injuries cut her senior season short. Nevertheless, she was an inspirational leader for the team and left a standard of women's fencing at Haverford that will carry forward for many years to come. Each of Haverford's three regional qualifiers in epee (Blossom, Bradley, and Carvalho) return to next year's team. Claire Cai was also in the mix for regionals and provides a fourth option for one of Haverford's deepest weapon squads. Bradley will provide the senior leadership while Blossom and Carvalho found immediate success during their first-years at Haverford. Hanna Kopits leads the foil squad which will continue to feature veterans Jia-Ming Tuan and Zuyi Wang, along with rising sophomore Golda Glasser. The sabre squad will have a new look next year with Haverford's two graduation losses, but Macy Brooks, Sofia Nicolayevsky, and Maria Yea all showed great potential for the future and have three seasons remaining with the team.