EASTON, Pa. – The Haverford College women's fencing team finished fourth overall out of 18 teams at the NIWFA Championships over the weekend. The Fords entered the weekend as the defending Division III Champions and the overall silver medalist squad from a season ago.

Juliana Petersen took home the silver medal epee to highlight the individual success in the tournament. The defending champion Fords were edged out by Stevens Tech for the D-III title, while a resurgent Division I FDU Lady Knights squad claimed the overall team champion.

The Fords were led by a strong epee squad which finished fourth overall. Freshman newcomer Rachel Wolfe continued her season long progression by finishing the tournament with a fifth seed out of 15 fencers in the "C" slot rankings. She totaled nine wins on the day. Wolfe's impressive day of fencing complemented the stellar performances of fellow epeeists Petersen and Alexis Auer. The Fords experienced duo of Petersen and Auer were seeded first and third out of the "A" and "B" slots from the team event, respectively.

In the individual portion of the championship, Petersen knocked out two of the Temple University epeeists to reach the gold medal round but fell to her third, and most accomplished, Owls' opponent of the day in J. Safa Ibrahim. Her day of constant bouts from the Temple side started in the round of 16 where she upset Rachel Clark in a 15-14 nail biter that featured astounding comebacks from both fencers. Petersen handled her next opponent, Temple's Jessica Hall by a 15-7 final. However her run at the championship was denied in the gold medal round by the 2013 USFA Junior National Champion Fasa Ibrahim, 15-3.

Also qualifying to the individual round of 16 were foilists Alexandra Morrison and Jessica Poling, while Sofia Tieze represented the Haverford sabre. The those two squads placed fifth and sixth, respectively.

Women's fencing will next compete in the NCAA Regional Championships at Duke University this upcoming weekend. Haverford will be represented at the NCAA Regional by Petersen, Morrison, and Tjing.