No. 7 Fencing Upsets No. 3 Penn State; Finishes 2-3 at Temple Invitational

Saturday, February 24

McGonigle Hall

All Day

Temple University

Penn State, St. John's, Princeton, Penn, Johns Hopkins

Photo by: Nguyen Ho

No. 7 Fencing Upsets No. 3 Penn State; Finishes 2-3 at Temple Invitational

2.24.18 | Women's Fencing

Photo Gallery Temple Invitational Results Video Highlights

PHILADELPHIA - It was a day of celebration both on and off the strip, but ultimately not quite the result #7 Temple was looking for at its own Temple Invitational, as the Owls (26-12) upset #3 Penn State but went 2-3 overall against some of the top competition in the nation. The high point for Temple was the morning, which saw senior Safa Ibrahim and head coach Dr. Nikki Franke honored. It was also the first match of the day in which the Owls defeated Penn State.

Celebration Recap
> To start the day, the Owls honored lone senior Safa Ibrahim, the all-time record-holder for career wins in program history, now with 221. Ibrahim was escorted by her parents in a special ceremony prior to the meet.
> Following the Senior Day ceremony, Temple surprised its legendary head coach, Dr. Nikki Franke. Dozens of alumnae returned and popped out of a back room as Franke was presented with a black mask celebrating her 800th career victory by Director of Athletics Dr. Patrick Kraft and Executive Senior Associate AD/SWA Mary McElroy.

Meet Recap
> Riding a high from the morning's festivities, the #7 Owls began the day with an upset of #3 Penn State, beating the Nittany Lions 15-12 and getting revenge for a 16-11 loss on Jan. 14.
> All three squads beat Penn State, with sabre leading the way at 6-3.
> Temple continued its winning ways with a 20-7 win vs. Johns Hopkins, getting an 8-1 victory from epee and a 7-2 win from foil.
> After going down 7-2 to #8 Penn early on, Temple came back to tie the match at 9-9, but ultimately lost 15-12. The sabre squad got a win vs. the Quakers, 6-3
> St. John's edged Temple 14-13 in round 4, but both the foil squad (6-3) and sabre squad (5-4) earned wins.
> In the day's final match, it was one-point margin yet again as the Owls fell 14-13 to #5 Princeton, again getting a 6-3 foil win and 5-4 sabre win.
> Temple's sabre squad finished a perfect 5-0 for the day, while the foil squad went 4-1.

Individual Highlights
> Sophomore Kennedy Lovelace posted the day's best individual record of 10-2 in leading the foil squad to a 4-1 record. Lovelace went 3-0 vs. #5 Princeton and St. John's, and 2-1 vs. #3 Penn State.
> Also strong for foil was freshman Megan Ross at 6-3, and she went 3-0 vs. St. John's.
> Sophomore Kerry Plunkett went 9-2 for the 5-0 sabre squad, posting perfect 3-0 marks against both #3 Penn State and #8 Penn.
> Fellow sabre sophomore Malia Hee went 8-3 with a 3-0 record vs. #5 Princeton and 2-1 marks against #3 Penn State and #8 Penn.
> Leading the epee squad was junior Ally Micek with a record of 7-6, and she went 3-0 against #3 Penn State.

Thoughts from Head Coach Dr. Nikki Franke
> "I was very pleased with our fencing and the effort we put forth in a very tough meet. We lost two matches 14-13 where just one bout could have made the difference. We did some really good things against some of the strongest competition we've faced all year. So I felt good about our fencing but disappointed in the results. The win against Penn State was great. We were really focused and worked so hard."

Next Up
> Temple will go for its 22nd straight NIWFA Championship on Saturday, March 3 at Army.