Tigers tested in South tourney

It's been said that the least comforting part about winning a championship is its transience — come next season, a title signifies nothing about the strength of the team defending it. With the men's fencing team's victory over defending champion Harvard, it certainly looks like the Crimson has something to be worried about as Ivy fencing heats up.

This past weekend, both the men and the women competed in the Ivy League "South" tournament. Both teams had a relatively strong showing as the men (8-4 overall, 3-1 Ivy League) finished the weekend with a 2-1 record, and the women (8-4, 2-2) finished a bit further behind in their league competition with a 1-2 record.

The men began the day against defending Ivy League and NCAA champion Harvard. In a terrific display of skill, Princeton defeated its arch rival with a total score of 16-11. The Tiger epee fencers had the most convincing win, 6-3. Both junior epee Tommi Hurme and younger brother freshman epee Edward Hurme won all three of their bouts. Men's foil and sabre each won by one bout, with final scores of 5-4.

"They [Harvard] are defending NCAA champions," senior captain Alejandro Bras said. "So we really caught them off guard."

Perhaps the defeat of Harvard caused the Tigers to be a bit unfocused in their next matchup, though, as they fell to Penn by a score of 14-13.

"We should have been able to beat Penn," Bras said. "But we started too slow and gained momentum too late."

Epee was the only weapon to claim victory, once again led by Tommi Hurme, who won all three of his bouts. Penn felled foil by a score of 5-4, and sabre lost as well, 6-3.

Despite the setback, the men's team came back blasting in its final matchup of the day against Brown, where it dominated its opponent, 21-6.

Every weapon was victorious, with both the epee and foil each only losing one bout out of nine. Junior foil Douglas Hohensee and both Hurme brothers won all three of their bouts. Sabre squeaked out a 5-4 victory to cap the Tigers' sweep of Brown.

While the men's team looked strong throughout the day, the women got off to a rough start, beginning the day with a loss to Harvard, 17-10.

Epee had the strongest showing with senior Erin McGarry and sophomore Jasjit Bhinder both winning all three of their bouts and finishing with a 6-3 victory. Foil made it a nail biter but ultimately ended up losing by a final score of 5-4. Sabre had the most difficult time against the Crimson, finishing 9-0.

The women took on Penn in the second round, suffering a second loss on the day at the hands of the Quakers with a final score of 18-9. Epee once again had a terrific showing as the only squad to defeat Penn, again winning 6-3.

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While senior captain Sara Jew-Lim was able to fence her way to a winning record of 2-1, Penn overcame Princeton's foil fencers by a final score of 6-3. Penn also swept sabre, 9-0.

The Tigers finally hit their stride in the final matchup of the day against Brown, defeating Brown 18-9. Foil dominated with a score of 8-1, and freshman Karen Petsche, freshman Jocelyn Svengsouk and Jew-Lim all went undefeated. Epee finished strong with a final tally of seven bouts to Brown's two. Though the sabre suffered defeat a third time, they had a much stronger showing, and the fencers only lost 6-3. Junior Cara DiGirolamo led the way for her squad by winning all three of her bouts.

While it might have been easy for the Tigers to be disappointed with their performance at the end of the day, they are trying to stay positive and look to the future.

"Everyone fenced at least one great bout during the course of the day," Jew-Lim said. "Considering that our team is very young, I'm very optimistic that we'll continue to improve with time."

In two weeks, Princeton will compete against the Ivy "North" teams such as Cornell, Columbia and Yale in Cambridge, Mass. At the end of the weekend, scores from both the Ivy "South" and Ivy "North" competitions will be tallied to produce the winning teams from the Ivy League.

Unsurprisingly, traditional fencing powerhouse Columbia looms large in Ivy competition.

"Columbia has not lost yet," Bras said. "But neither have they faced the three most competitive teams [Harvard, Penn and Princeton]."

The women also plan to add more victories to their record by the end of the "North" tournament. "I am confident that we can step it up and bring home some more team victories," Jew-Lim said.