Women's fencing travels to Cornell for tune up before Penn, H-Y-P matches

While the men's fencing team takes a weekend break from competition, women's fencing will make the long and laborious trek to Ithaca, N.Y., this weekend, facing Cornell in the Stifel Fencing Salle. With high hopes for an easy win, Princeton is excited about improving their record in this off-campus match-up after a loss last week in its first Ivy league match of the year.

"We're very confident that we can beat [Cornell]," junior sabre Catherine Pack said. "I don't see any problems. It should be fairly straightforward."

The men, having beaten Rutgers and suffering a loss to Columbia and St. John's last weekend, will not compete after an unexpected cancellation of their match-ups against Fairleigh Dickinson, Cornell, and James Madison.

The women are also coming off a three-team border battle last weekend, starting off with a win in the sabre contest against Columbia but losses in the foil and epee portions of the competition, making for an overall loss to the Lions. Princeton was, however, able to snag two wins on the weekend, wrapping up with victories against Rutgers and St. John's.

The loss to the Lions in their first Ivy League meet has spurred the women to a new level of determination and provided a keen sense of motivation and urgency. If the Tigers hope to take the Ivy League, they will have to perform well in their upcoming league meets and hold the league standings to a close margin.

"We feel bad about the loss to Columbia," senior foil Crystal Jiang said. "Our intensity as a team has risen by a whole notch."

That intensity showed immediately as the Tigers pounced on St. John's and Rutgers and now looks to show its fearsome strength this weekend during Princeton's competition with the Big Red.

"Compared to the match with Columbia, this will be a much easier match," Jiang said.

Pack agrees, saying, "We beat St. John's and Rutgers. I'm pretty confident in our team."

Cornell is coming off a four-match day Monday as they traveled to Brandeis to face Brown, Boston College, MIT, and of course, their defiant hosts, the Judges. Cornell split the four matches, beating Brown and Boston College but losing a close match to Brandeis and another tough one to MIT in which the epees posted only a 1-8 record.

Princeton, having proven to be quite effective in sabre competion, may be able to capitalize on the poor performance of the Cornell epee squad to provide a strong starting foothold.

The Big Red will be preparing to host not only Princeton, but also James Madison on their home floor. The Dukes, having lost every one of their match-ups this season and losing by a combined score of 7-201 in their last quad meet, should provide little challenge for Princeton, which is trying to keep its focus on its Ivy League opponents.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

The Tigers, looking for nothing but a win and a tuneup for some upcoming big events, are enthusiastic about the weekend's action. With this weekend's easier match-ups comes a chance for Princeton to improve its record and build some confidence.

"Our match [against Columbia] bummed us out," Jiang said. "Having to fence Cornell will give us a renewed sense of confidence, which will be important for Penn next week."

Beyond the important match with the Quakers, Princeton also looks ahead to the always-exciting Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet on Feb. 21. Hosting this year's event, the Tigers will look to sweep the competition, providing an impressive display of their talent and all but guaranteeing them this years' league title.