POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – Foilist Alexandra Morrison and sabrist Anna Neuheardt were both named Eastern Women's Fencing Conference (EWFC) All-Stars this past weekend for the Haverford College women's fencing team. As a team, the Fords took fifth at the meet hosted by Vassar. Haverford had convincing wins over City College of New York, Hunter, and Yeshiva to solidify its position in the team race.
Neuheardt and Morrison were standouts for the Fords in both the team and individual portions of competition. Neuheardt, fencing sabre, led all Haverford fencers with 15 victories during the team competition as sabre won five of its squad matchups on the day. Neuheardt won at least two of her three bouts in all but one round of team competition. Sabre also received 12 bout wins from Sofia Tieze and 10 more from Emily Brown. Ayesha Bhikha filled in during two bouts against Yeshiva and went a perfect 2-0 as a substitute for Brown.
Seeded eighth entering the direct elimination tournament, Neuheardt earned second-team All-EWFC honors for the second year in a row. She defeated Drew's Natalya Shcherban for the second time on the day with a 15-13 victory in the round of 16 before a 15-11 setback at the hands of top-seeded and eventual EWFC runner-up Annie Innes-Gold of host Vassar. Tieze and Brown also qualified for the direct elimination draw as the 12th and 14th seeds, respectively, but were eliminated in their opening bouts.
Co-captain Morrison earned the first EWFC All-Star honor of her career with second-team recognition. During the team competition, Morrison led the Haverford foilists with 13 bout wins. She won at least two bouts in each of the first five rounds. Teammates Amira Abujbara and Zuyi Wang each recorded 10 bout wins in the team competition.
Morrison entered the foil direct elimination draw as the 10th seed and reversed an earlier defeat in the day to Johns Hopkins' Rebecca Rosenthal with a nail-biting 12-11 victory as time expired. She was then edged out by second-seeded Elisa Stoff from Vassar. Wang and Abujbara joined Morrison in the direct elimination foil bouts as the 12th and 13th seeds, but saw their higher ranked opponents advance in the draw.
Katie Bradley was Haverford's top epeeist as she won nine bouts during the team competition. That record earned her the 10th seed in the direct elimination draw. However, she was unable to replicate the No. 10 seed magic of foilist Morrison in her first elimination bout. Lauren Pronger won four bouts in the team portion to earn the 16th and final spot in the individual draw, but was topped by eventual champion Amanda Choy of Stevens in the opening individual round. Julia Albertson finished with two epee wins in the team portion of competition, while Chris Galebinge and Brooke Garbarini also added a bout victory to the epee squad during the day.
Women's fencing will host its annual Alumnae Match/Banquet this Saturday inside the Andy Kates Fencing Salle. The alumnae bouts are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. with the banquet to follow in the afternoon.
Haverford 20, CCNY 7
Epee: 5-4
Foil: 6-3
Sabre: 9-0
Vassar 18, Haverford 9
Epee: 9-0
Foil: 6-3
Sabre: 3-6
Drew 18, Haverford 9
Epee: 8-1
Foil: 6-3
Sabre: 4-5
Haverford 21, Hunter 6
Epee: 7-2
Foil: 8-1
Sabre: 6-3
Haverford 21, Yeshiva 6
Epee: 4-5
Foil: 8-1
Sabre: 9-0
Johns Hopkins 23, Haverford 4
Epee: 9-0
Foil: 6-3
Sabre: 8-1
Stevens 22, Haverford 5
Epee: 9-0
Foil: 7-2
Sabre: 6-3