Temple University Athletics
Saturday, January 20
Philadelphia, Pa.
All Day
Temple University
vs
FDU, NYU, NJIT, Duke, Cornell, Northwestern
Photo by: Nguyen Ho
Fencing to Face 10 Teams at This Weekend's Philadelphia Invitational
1.18.18 | Women's Fencing
PHILADELPHIA - Ten teams await nationally ranked Temple fencing this weekend at the Philadelphia Invitational hosted by Penn on Jan. 20-21. The Owls (7-3) start things early on Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m. vs. FDU, and don't finish up until a 4:45 p.m. match against powerhouse Columbia on Sunday.
Meet Information
> Temple will fence a total of six teams on Saturday and four on Sunday.
> Saturday's schedule begins at 8:30 a.m. vs. FDU and continues against NYU (9:45 a.m.), NJIT (11 a.m.), Duke (1 p.m.), Cornell (3:30 p.m.) and Northwestern (4:45 p.m.).
> Sunday begins in the afternoon for the Owls, who will fence Yale at 1 p.m. followed by Wagner at 2:15 p.m., Brown at 3:30 p.m. and finally Columbia at 4:45 p.m.
Scouting Temple
> After two dual meets so far in 2017-18, Temple is 7-3 overall. The Owls went 4-1 at Vassar's Traditional Meet on Dec. 13, and recently finished 3-2 at the Penn State Invitational on Jan. 14.
> Head Coach Dr. Nikki Franke is inching toward win No. 800 for her career, currently sitting at 788-233-1.
> Columbia, Yale and NYU will all be repeat opponents for Temple. The Owls defeated NYU 20-7 in December, beat Yale 15-12 last weekend, and lost a very close match vs. Columbia, 14-13.
> The best record of the day for the Owls at the Penn State Invitational belonged to sophomore Kennedy Lovelace in foil who went 11-1 overall. Sophomore Camille Simmons led the epee squad with a record of 8-5, and sophomore Kerry Plunkett had the strongest record in sabre at 7-3, going 3-0 against Columbia.
> Temple's overall team captain is its lone senior, Safa Ibrahim, an All-America honorable mention honoree in epee in 2017. Her fellow squad leaders are junior Blessing Olaode (sabre) and junior Auset Muhammad (foil).
> Temple was tied for eighth in the final College Fencing 360 Coaches Poll of 2016-17. The first poll for the current season has not yet been released.
Thoughts from Coach Franke
> "Since we didn't go to the Elite Meet (in November), we're picking up some schools we didn't get to fence there. We're ready for this weekend's lineup. The more competition we have, the stronger we're going to get. The girls are looking forward to what will be a very busy weekend but hopefully a very productive one. We've been working on consistency and focus, and those are the things that will help us get through a long weekend."
The Opponents
> The Owls' toughest competition is likely to come from Columbia, Duke, Cornell, NYU, Yale and Northwestern.
> Columbia, third overall at last year's NCAA Championships and second among women's teams, was ranked in a tie for first in the final College Fencing 360 Coaches Poll of 2017.
> Yale was ranked 10th at the end of last season, while Northwestern, Duke and Cornell were the top three teams receiving votes outside of the Top 10. NYU was also receiving votes.
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Meet Information
> Temple will fence a total of six teams on Saturday and four on Sunday.
> Saturday's schedule begins at 8:30 a.m. vs. FDU and continues against NYU (9:45 a.m.), NJIT (11 a.m.), Duke (1 p.m.), Cornell (3:30 p.m.) and Northwestern (4:45 p.m.).
> Sunday begins in the afternoon for the Owls, who will fence Yale at 1 p.m. followed by Wagner at 2:15 p.m., Brown at 3:30 p.m. and finally Columbia at 4:45 p.m.
Scouting Temple
> After two dual meets so far in 2017-18, Temple is 7-3 overall. The Owls went 4-1 at Vassar's Traditional Meet on Dec. 13, and recently finished 3-2 at the Penn State Invitational on Jan. 14.
> Head Coach Dr. Nikki Franke is inching toward win No. 800 for her career, currently sitting at 788-233-1.
> Columbia, Yale and NYU will all be repeat opponents for Temple. The Owls defeated NYU 20-7 in December, beat Yale 15-12 last weekend, and lost a very close match vs. Columbia, 14-13.
> The best record of the day for the Owls at the Penn State Invitational belonged to sophomore Kennedy Lovelace in foil who went 11-1 overall. Sophomore Camille Simmons led the epee squad with a record of 8-5, and sophomore Kerry Plunkett had the strongest record in sabre at 7-3, going 3-0 against Columbia.
> Temple's overall team captain is its lone senior, Safa Ibrahim, an All-America honorable mention honoree in epee in 2017. Her fellow squad leaders are junior Blessing Olaode (sabre) and junior Auset Muhammad (foil).
> Temple was tied for eighth in the final College Fencing 360 Coaches Poll of 2016-17. The first poll for the current season has not yet been released.
Thoughts from Coach Franke
> "Since we didn't go to the Elite Meet (in November), we're picking up some schools we didn't get to fence there. We're ready for this weekend's lineup. The more competition we have, the stronger we're going to get. The girls are looking forward to what will be a very busy weekend but hopefully a very productive one. We've been working on consistency and focus, and those are the things that will help us get through a long weekend."
The Opponents
> The Owls' toughest competition is likely to come from Columbia, Duke, Cornell, NYU, Yale and Northwestern.
> Columbia, third overall at last year's NCAA Championships and second among women's teams, was ranked in a tie for first in the final College Fencing 360 Coaches Poll of 2017.
> Yale was ranked 10th at the end of last season, while Northwestern, Duke and Cornell were the top three teams receiving votes outside of the Top 10. NYU was also receiving votes.
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Players Mentioned
Epee
/ Women's Fencing
Foil
/ Women's Fencing
Foil
/ Women's Fencing
Sabre
/ Women's Fencing
Sabre
/ Women's Fencing
Epee
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