PHILADELPHIA – The Haverford College women's fencing team competed at the Philadelphia Invitational Saturday on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. The Fords picked up a 16-11 win against a historically-challenging Fairleigh Dickinson team after beating that side 14-13 back in the month of December.
Sabre proved to be the difference in the victory over FDU with a 7-2 advantage in that weapon after the foil and epee squads went 6-3 with one squad win for each team. Haverford's sabrists and foilists both finished the day with a combined 14 individual victories, while epee combined for 12 wins in a full squad effort.
Foilist Hanna Kopits won at least one bout in each of the team's five rounds of fencing, finishing with a team-best 8-7 record on the day. She finished with two victories against Johns Hopkins, Drew, and FDU. Jia-Ming Tuan recorded four victories, with two of those coming in key bouts against FDU. The first year also had wins against Johns Hopkins and Drew. Zuyi Wang stepped up when her team needed her most, securing two bouts in the team's win against FDU.
Sabrist Anna Neuheardt won seven bouts over her five rounds of fencing. She finished with two victories in three different rounds, taking those results against Johns Hopkins, Drew, and FDU. Competing in sabre for the second straight weekend, co-captain Alexandra Morrison rallied for four victories in the final two rounds. She was a perfect 3-0 in crucial bouts against Fairleigh Dickinson and added another win in the final matchup against NYU. Emily Brown also went 2-1 against FDU, helping Haverford's sabre to a 7-2 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson.
Haverford's epee squad threatened for weapon squad wins all day long and ended up having the most success against Drew with a narrow 5-4 defeat. The epeeists also claimed three bouts against Johns Hopkins and FDU. Katie Bradley, Amanda Soled, and Valentina Zavala-Arbelaez each tied for the squad lead with three victories. Co-captain Soled got two of her wins against Johns Hopkins and added one more in the near squad victory over Drew. Bradley also had two wins in the matchup against the Rangers.
Zavala-Arbelaez had a win in each of the three rounds she was in the lineup. In addition to wins against Johns Hopkins and NYU, she joined Soled and Claire Cai in teaming up to help the Fords take down FDU. Lauren Pronger secured individual wins in two of her three rounds, taking bouts against Drew and NYU.
Women's fencing will break from official competition this weekend as the team hosts its annual Alumni Bouts/Banquet this Saturday inside the Andy Kates Fencing Salle. The alumnae bouts will get underway at 11 a.m. with the reception to follow at 1 p.m. When the Fords do return to competition, it will be on Saturday, February 3 when the team treks to Brandeis for the Sollee Invitational. Those bouts will mark the final competition before the EWFC and NIWFA Championship seasons get underway.
Team Scores
Johns Hopkins 19, Haverford 8
Epee: 6-3
Foil: 6-3
Sabre: 7-2
Penn 25, Haverford 2
Epee: 8-1
Foil: 8-1
Sabre: 9-0
Drew 17, Haverford 10
Epee: 5-4
Foil: 6-3
Sabre: 6-3
Haverford 16, Fairleigh Dickinson 11
Epee: 3-6
Foil: 6-3
Sabre: 7-2
New York University 23, Haverford 4
Epee: 8-1
Foil: 8-1
Sabre: 7-2