Fencing: Men and women fence to third place in Ivy League

The men and women’s teams concluded their regular seasons on Sunday at the second half of the Ivy League Fencing Round-Robin Championship, also known as the Ivy “North” Competition, held at Brown. Both teams claimed third-place finishes in the Ivies and high expectations for the next Ivy season.

With some flawless performances from the Tigers and some opportune losses by other teams, both Princeton squads had good shots at winning the Ivy title. Both the men and women’s teams, however, finished the day in a similar fashion, soundly defeating Yale and Brown but losing to Columbia.

“We were all definitely very apprehensive about our bout with Columbia because we knew they were such a strong team, but we were even more excited to go against them to prove that we could win,” senior epeeist and co-captain Jasjit Bhinder said. “Even though we didn’t win, the team still had some very good performances, and I’m expecting them to beat [Columbia] next year.”

For the men’s team (17-3 overall, 4-2 Ivy League), the third-place Ivy finish was an improvement over last year’s fourth-place result, while the women (16-6, 4-3) jumped two spots from the previous season’s Ivy results. Though many members of the teams said they felt that this year’s finish was less than desirable, strong individual showings from five freshman Tigers placed them on All-Ivy teams. Foilist Lucile Jarry, saberists Susannah Scanlan and Alexander Mills and epeeist Cooper Gegan won first-team All-Ivy recognition. Foilist Andrea Oliva claimed second-team honors.

“Our coach did a great job recruiting the freshman class, and they have not let us down,” junior epee squad leader Chandler Clay said. “All of the freshmen, including those who weren't All-Ivy, have exceeded our expectations and have made great contributions to this team.”

Jarry compiled a 12-2 record in the tournament. Her .857 win percentage in her bouts was second overall. Scanlan went 16-2, also placing second overall. Mills’ 11-2 record was the best in men’s foil, while Gegan’s 11 wins and four losses only placed second to Harvard’s Benjamin Ungar, the defending NCAA champion in the epee.

The first bout of the day for both Princeton squads came against Yale. The men triumphed by a score of 15-12, while the women came out on top 16-11. Whether it was nerves or fatigue that set in for the fencers, both teams fell hard to Columbia in the subsequent round of competition. The men lost by a score of 16-11, outdueled 6-3 in both the foil and the saber, while the women won only one bout in the saber and finished on the losing side of an 18-9 score.

“We knew Columbia was very strong, but we felt we could do well if everyone was fencing well,” Scanlan said. “Columbia lost to Harvard by two bouts, whereas we only lost by one, so we felt we had somewhat of a shot. Although after watching the other fencers on Columbia’s team in the first round, I knew it was going to be very hard and that we'd have to take all the 4-4 bouts if we wanted to win. I think people were a little nervous, but nothing out of the ordinary tournament stress. We have strong [fencers], but the competition was tough.”

“Columbia took a lead on us halfway through and made it tough for us to get back into it,” sophomore epeeist Mike Elfassy said. “It really came down to a couple of close bouts against Columbia, which was kind of the same as with Penn. Last year, we kind of got blown out of the water by Columbia, but this year, it was a lot closer.”

Columbia’s teams both finished second overall in the Ivy rankings.

The frustration from the Columbia bout carried over into the final round of the day. The women destroyed Brown 22-5 en route to a 4-2 finish in the tournament. The Princeton men soundly defeated the Bears 16-11, finishing their day 2-1 with a combined 3-2 record over the two weekends of competition.

The men’s team was missing one of its top epeeists in competition on Sunday. Sophomore Graham Wicas, who won bronze at the NCAA championships last spring, was ill and did not play.

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Penn (17-0, 5-0) dominated the men’s competition, finishing the Ivy round-robin a perfect 5-0. The Quakers won all 17 of their dual meets this regular season and claimed their first Ivy title since 2001. On the women’s side, Harvard (20-1, 6-0) took the Ivy title with a 6-0 record in the round robin tournament.

The women’s 14-13 loss to eventual Ivy champ Harvard in the first round of competition proved an especially strong source of anguish.

“I personally can't help but to look back on Harvard,” Clay said. “We lost 14-13 as a team to Harvard, who ended up winning the title, and a loss by one is always the worst. So I look back on the bouts I lost to them and just think, ‘If only I had won that one bout, our team would have won.’ But fencing is such a mental sport, so if you [dwell] on the past, it will only hurt your next bouts.”

“We can totally win next year,” Scanlan said. “We did a lot better this season than last season, and we're getting more strong recruits next year. I'm still furious about the bout I lost to Harvard's Noam Mills in overtime. It was the last bout against Harvard and decided the winner. That won't happen again next year.”

The end of the regular season brings high hopes for next year’s Ivy League tournament.

“I’m very happy about the Ivy League season this year. We fenced strong, and it showed in our results. Compared to last year, we did phenomenally,” Bhinder said. “The team is at its strongest right now, and it’s going to get even stronger. The only regret I have is actually a personal regret: I know that next year our team will be strong enough to win Ivies, and I only regret that I will not be able to take part in it. But I’ll definitely be cheering them on.”