McGarry contributes to unfoiled season for women's fencing

The women's fencing squad regained traction within the Ivy League over the weekend, fighting their way to a sweeping victory over Cornell, 24-3, and James Madison, 25-2, in the Stifel Fencing Salle.

Princeton was led by the undefeated foil and sabre squads, who swept their respective matches against both Cornell and James Madison. After last weekend's heartbreakingly close loss to Columbia, the defending Ivy League champs, this will prove to be good preparation for the Tigers' match with Ivy rival Penn on Wednesday.

"We went to Cornell with high expectations," junior captain Catherine Pack said. "And we left with high hopes for our match against Penn."

Princeton's traditionally powerful sabre and foil squads went 9-0 in all of their bouts. And while epee posted the Tigers' only losses for the weekend, they too soundly defeated their opponents, trouncing the Dukes 7-2 and Cornell 6-3. The epee squad is in a bit of a rebuilding year and is entirely made up of underclassmen. They were also pitted against Cornell's Liz Phair, who apparently fences much better than she sings. Phair is ranked in the top ten nationally in the epee weapon.

And even through the team's glory, Prineton's epee squad produced one bright star this weekend — freshman Erin McGarry. McGarry, who was undefeated for the weekend, has had an incredible debut at Princeton with a 15-1 record. McGarry came to Princeton not as a fencer but as a modern pentathlete. The modern pentathlon is a grueling five-sport competition which includes pistol shooting, epee fencing, swimming, riding (equestrian show jumping) and cross-country running in a single day.

"We really kicked a—," an excited McGarry said.

"We all had a great weekend," Pack said. "Since we traveled alone it was a great time to bond as friends and as a team."

Important wins

Still, the Tigers are not ready to rest on their laurels and attempt to downplay the significance of this weekend's wins. The women will have to contend with Penn on Wednesday without as much competitive practice as the Quakers. The Tigers have traditionally counted on their multi-team event at Penn State in December to help hone their skills before entering Ivy League play. This year, due to snow, the fencers were unable to face Penn State, NYU or North Carolina.

"Cornell was little more than a warm-up," junior co-captain Inhwa Song said. "We really used it as practice for Penn."

While Penn is not nearly as good as Columbia, the Tigers must beat the Quakers if they hope to recapture at least a portion of the Ivy League title. Equally, Columbia must loose one of its final two matches — against Yale and Penn. Whether or not the stars align for that set of circumstances, the Tigers have historically used IFAs at the end of February to attempt to redeem their Ivy League season. The IFAs, which pit Princeton against 13 other schools — including all Ivy League opponents — will give the Tigers a chance to again face Columbia. While Princeton also lost its Ivy League season to Columbia last year, they were able to eek out a win against the Lions at IFAs.

After Columbia on Wednesday, the Tigers will host the Harvard-Yale-Princeton fencing tournament. The event, which the Tigers seem poised to win, will mark the end of what has proved to be an exciting Ivy League season.