Temple University Athletics
Temple Women's Fencing Adds Another Winning Year to the Record Books
5.29.02 | Women's Fencing
The team started off the season with the 22nd Annual Temple Open where fencers from across the nation came to Philadelphia to compete in the event. Five Owls advanced to the finals including Stefanie Izzolino, Nerita Brumell, Sakinah Shaahid, Julia Korony and Sara Forsythe.
The next weekend, the Owls traveled to the Penn State Open where senior Julia Korony led the Cherry and White with an 8th place finish. Temple completed the tournament portion of its schedule at the NIWFA Christmas Invitational on December 2. Senior Stefanie Izzolino , sophomore Nerita Brumell and freshman Jeanne Browne and Nnenna Okoro placed first, second, third and fourth respectively in the foil competition. In the sabre competition, sophomore Aziza Hassan placed first.
On January 12 and 13, the Owls began the individual meet portion of their schedule at the Northwestern Multi-Meet in Evanston, Illinois. The Cherry and White defeated rival Northwestern 14-13, Wayne State 21-6, Detroit 23-4, Lawrence 22-5, Cleveland 21-7, UNC 21-6, FDU 22-5 and John's Hopkins 18-9.
The Owls then went on an eight-meet winning streak that started off with three wins at home against Fairleigh Dickinson, Rutgers and James Madison and then moved to Baltimore, where the Owls picked up wins against Hollins, John Hopkins and Stevens.
After picking up two more wins against Haverford and Harvard, Temple's winning streak was snapped with a 15-12 loss to the University of Pennsylvania. The Cherry and White finished the regular season with two losses to No. 1 St. John's and No. 3 Penn State and two wins against Cornell and Columbia.
On March 2, Temple received the Olympians Cup for the fifth year in a row as a result of sweeping the NIWFA Championships. In addition, senior Stefanie Izzolino was crowned Foil Champion, Julia Korony was crowned Epee Champion and Sakinah Shaahid was crowned Sabre Champion. All three Owls as well as senior Sara Ironmen received NIWFA All-Conference honors.
In postseason play, all 14 Owls qualified to compete at the Mid-Atlantic South Regional Championships held at Drew University on March 9. As a result, five Owls including seniors Stefanie Izzolino and Julia Korony, junior Sakinah Shaahid, sophomore Aziza Hassan and freshman Jeanne Browne received bids to compete at the NCAA Fencing Tournament.
For the second year in a row, Sakinah Shaahid placed fourth and was named to the First Team All American. Senior Stefanie Izzolino placed 17 after winning nine of her 23 bouts while sophomore Aziza Hassan finished 15th and won nine of her bouts. Freshman Jeanne Browne and sophomore Sara Forsythe rounded out the Owls squad with 24th and 15th place finishes overall.
