Temple University Athletics
Women's Fencing Competes at Vassar Multi-Meet and NIWFA Christmas Invitational
12.8.08 | Women's Fencing
Dec. 8, 2008
Jersey City, NJ - It was a busy weekend for the Temple women's fencing team as the Owls competed at the Vassar College Multi-Meet on Saturday and NIWFA Christmas Invitational on Sunday. At the multi-meet, the Owls opened up dual meet team competition with a 2-2 record, while six Owls medaled at the Christmas Invitational.
At Vassar College, The day started a bit roughly for the Owls, dropping a close meet to NYU 13-14. The epee squad led the way, going 7-2, but that wasn't enough as sabre dropped their match 4-5 and foil fellat 2-7.
The second match featured Harvard, who finished 6th at NCAChampionships last year. Temple lost 8-19, with epee recording a 3-6 result, foil 1-8, and sabre the lone brightspot at 5-4.
Regrouping, the team came out hot against host Vassar. With all three squads winning their matches, led by a 8-1 result from the foil squad, the overall meet finished at 21-6.
Continuing the winning ways, Temple met up with regional foe Princeton. A hotly-contested meet, foil and epee dropped by identical scores of 4-5. Sabre picked up the team and finished with a resounding 8-1 result, leading the way to a 16-11 overall victory.
The team finished the day at 2-2 and in the process gained some important experience from this early-season test.
"We would like to have that meet back against NYU." said Assistant Coach Bradley Baker. "We definitely progressed through the day and have a good idea of what we need in order to be successful over the course of the rest of the season and into post-season competition." he said.
From the 76th Annual NIWFA Christmas Invitational from Jersey City, All six Owls that participated came away as medalists (top 6) in their respective weapons, continuing Temple's tradition of strong results in this tournament.
Senior team captain Kaitlyn Uckert, Temple's sole participant in epee, repeated her 2007 result, placing 4th. The field of 42 fencers was led by Lauren Chinn from Johns Hopkins University.
In foil Temple was represented by three newcomers to the team, sophmore Beccy Lehrman and freshmen Nicola Horscroft and Danielle Jones. All three posed problems for theiropponents throughout the day. Horscroft led the way for theOwls with a silver medal performance, closely followed byLehrman and Jones in fourth and fifth, respectively. The 50-person event was won by Fairleigh Dickinson's Rebecca Kellogg.
Senior Squad Captain Kristine Jones and sophmore Samantha Pascarelli competed in the sabre event. Jones, the 2006 Champion, thoroughly dominated the 60-person field, going 23-0 on the day. Her title marks the fourth consecutive yearthat a Temple fencer has won this event. Pascarelli also claimed a finalist's medal, placing sixth.
"The format of the tournament calls for four rounds of pools with approximately half the field cut after each round." said Assistant Coach Bradley Baker. "For fencers like ours who make it to the finals that makes for a very long day and a lot of bouts." he continued.
Temple resumes competition with the Alumnae Meet in McGonigle Hall Sunday, January 4th, and collegiate competition with the Philadelphia Invitational hosted this season by the University of Pennsylvania on January 10th.
