Princeton gives strong showing in rare Jadwin Gym appearance

Most teams have home-court advantage every few games, but for the men's and women's fencing teams, that edge only comes once every several years.

This past Saturday, the Tigers competed in their first dual meet of the season, hosting six other schools at Jadwin Gym. And at its first home meet in years, Princeton capitalized on the advantage.

The men's team was able to fence its way to a winning record, beating three of five opponents. The Tigers started the day off by beating NYU, 15-12, with the epee and foil squads both winning their bouts in convincing fashion, 6-3. Sabre finished the matchup with a 6-3 loss.

Taking on Harvard next, Princeton fell short in a 16-11 loss. Sabre was the only squad to beat the Crimson, 6-3. The foil squad barely lost with a 5-4 finish, and epee was routed by an 8-1 score.

Unfazed, the men cruised to victory over North Carolina with a combined score of 18-9. All three squads beat their Tar Heel counterparts — epee with a score of 8-1, foil with a score of 5-4 and sabre, 6-3.

Next, the Tigers took on another nationally ranked team: Penn State. Epee made its mark, beating the Lions by a score of 7-2, but the other two squads fell short, with the sabre losing 7-2 and foil losing 6-3. The defeat, however, didn't demoralize the team.

"[Our result against Penn State] was an excellent indicator for the men's team in general," senior epee and captain Tommi Hurme said.

Capping off the day, Princeton finished by beating Vassar College by a score of 19-8. Epee and foil won their bouts convincingly with scores of 7-2 and 8-1, respectively. The sabre squad finished off by losing a close 5-4 point match.

While the team was generally pleased with its performance, all of the fencers know there is certainly a lot that can be improved.

"We need to work on maintaining focus when it counts," Hurme said.

Women win three of five

The women's team also had a winning record at the end of the day, beating three of five opponents. The day started out on a losing note with Temple University defeating the Tigers, 17-10. Epee was the only winning squad, battling to a narrow 5-4 victory. Sabre and foil fell short with scores of 6-3 and 7-2, respectively.

Despite the slow start, the women were able to defeat their next opponent, NYU, by a score of 15 to 12. Both epee and sabre won with scores of 6-3 and 5-4, respectively. The foil unit fought hard, but was not able to scrape a win together and lost by a score of 5-4.

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The Tigers took on North Carolina next, scratching their way to a 14-13 victory. The only squad to defeat the Tar Heels was epee, with a 7-2 victory. Foil and sabre lost by scores of 3-6 and 4-5, respectively — but they were still close enough to hold on to the overall win.

Using their momentum, the women rattled off an easy 21-6 point victory against Vassar. Each squad dominated, with sabre leading the way at 8-1, epee notching a victory of 7-2, and foil bringing up the rear with a 6-3 win.

In the day's final matchup against Penn State, Princeton wasn't able to keep up its winning effort, losing 15-12. None of the three squads was able to pull out a victory, with sabre and foil losing 5-4 and epee losing 8-1.

"I think that the meet went extremely well, and I was happy with the team's performance," junior sabre and captain Jessica Fields said. "There was great team effort, and everyone tried their hardest."