Alumni Spotlight: Alyssa Lomuscio

One of the top fencers in the storied history of the Temple Fencing program, Alyssa Lomuscio was a three-year member of the Owls team, earning Second Team All-America honors with her seventh place finish in the foil as a junior in 2011.

Lomuscio, who transferred to Temple from Fairliegh Dickson following her freshman year, competed at the NCAA Championships for the Owls in 2011 and 2012, while serving as an alternate in the 2010.

As a sophomore, Lomuscio won the foil at the Temple Open and the NIWFA Championship. Her junior season, 2010-11, was her best at Temple. Besides her seventh place finish at the NCAAs, she placed fifth at the Temple Open and was a semifinalist at the Penn State Open.

Her final season, 2011-12, she posted 47 wins and placed sixth at the NCAA Regional Championship to qualify for the Nationals, where she ended her career with a 16th place finish.

A 2012 graduate with a bachelor's degree in Film and Media Studies currently lives in New York City with her husband, Nicholas Marchetti. The two are currently working on producing a short film, The Fencer, which explores the psychological pressures that young athletes are under and the personal sacrifices they make to succeed.

Talk about your decision to transfer to Temple after your freshman year at Fairleigh Dickinson?

"For me, Fairleigh Dickson was a match up of a good fencing team and a good film program, which was run through the New York Film Academy. It was a new program, but after I committed to the school the program fell through. So I ended up at Fairleigh Dickinson without a major.

Temple had been a program I had considered during high school. At the tournaments my freshman year I knew that I wanted to transfer but I was uncertain on how I was going to go about it or where I was going to go. So I was at tournaments looking around at teams and I noticed Temple's team and everyone was together, like a big family. So I remember thinking to myself, 'I wonder if they have a film program.' So it ended up working out for the best."

How was it competing under legendary Hall of Fame Coach Nikki Franke?

"Coach Franke is an incredible presence, and also can be an intimidating presence, but in a great way. She really makes you want to do your absolute best. There is a standard that Coach Franke has and you absolutely want to hit that standard and exceed it.

I am very appreciative of Coach Franke. Transferring into Temple it kind of felt like my freshman year again, but she brought me into the team and made me feel part of the family. It really changed my life and the direction of my life. I met my husband, who is the director of the film, The Fencer, which we are working on, at Temple.

Coach Franke is an incredible person and coach. She had a different style of coaching than I was used to. It was very direct and strategic. It melded very well with my personality and boosted my athletic career and fencing abilities beyond what I could have imagined."

What stands out the most during your time on the Temple Fencing team?

"There was a match at a Summer Nationals tournament that I ended up placing third despite having pneumonia. It was a brutal tournament and I remember being in such a miserable place but I was able to streamline and focused when I was fencing. However, when the bout was over I felt like I was going to collapse. When I got off the strip I had a 103 fever. I remember thinking afterwards that if I can have this result with pneumonia, I can do anything.

There was also winning bouts at the NCAA Championships. The NCAA Championship is like no other tournament. It is a two-day long, 25-person round-robin. Normally in a fencing bout, you fence in a pool against five people and then do direct elimination. At the NCAAs, everyone fences against every other fencer. It is a brutal, intense two days. I remember competing there with so many quick bouts, and getting that last touch. Every win puts you up higher in the standings.

Earning All-America at the NCAAs as a junior was incredible. I remember the touch of one of the last bouts that I won. I did this move that Coach Franke did not like where I hit from behind the head. It is a bit of a ridiculous move and you should not rely on it as a fencer but it does look very cool when it lands. I was incredibly lucky that it landed. When I realized it worked It hit me that I had a real chance to earn All-America honors. I just then had to wait for all the scores to be tallied."

A Film and Media Studies Major, talk about your career in the industry since graduating from Temple?

"In the summer of my junior year I was able to intern on the set of a reality TV show. That show was renewed so once I graduated they brought me on as a production assistant. I then worked hard while also networking at the same time. I gave out DVD reels of my work while at Temple. I was then brought on to edit for a startup reality TV company. I started with editing casting reels before becoming a show editor. It was a lucky break as I was on a show that ran out of money. They could only pay me a junior rate but would give me an actual editor credit. I was fine with that as I would take the pay cut for an editor credit as I was very young, 24, and it was a great opportunity to be a full editor on a show.

From there I moved on to be a full editor on other shows. I have earned daytime Emmy nominations for two shows since then as I was a story producer as well as an editor.

My husband, Nicholas Marchetti, and I have started a small production company together. We make short films and I am also a science fiction writer with a short story, Nightglow Pizza, that has been published.

Talk about your latest project which is near and dear to your heart?

My husband and I have been making short films for several years now. We have one currently running in the festival circuit called, You Mourn Weird.

Our current project, The Fencer, is something my husband and I have talked about a lot. He is the one who actually pushed for it because he has heard all of my stories, like fencing with pneumonia, fencing with a broken finger on my fencing hand. He saw something here and there are really no movies about fencing. The way you push yourself. He wanted to make a story about it.

This story is about a fencer who is a high-level athlete on the eve of a big tournament, gets injured and decides to still compete. I think it is something relatable to all high level athletes. Her coach is her father. In the fencing world there are a lot of parents who are coaches. It reveals expectations that high level athletes put on themselves.

We had been talking about doing this fencing film for a few years and we finally committed to it.

We are planning on filming this on Labor Day Weekend, as long as the funding is in place, and hopefully done around November so it can go into the festival circuit. That is the current plan."

How can people help this project succeed?

"Many ways. We are in the midst of a fundraising campaign now that people can donate to at this link. Beyond that, sharing it on social media. If you are in the fencing world, and have access to fencing equipment, you could donate equipment during the weekend that we are filming."

Temple University Athletics

Alumni Spotlight: Alyssa Lomuscio

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