Fencing: Fencers take 19

The anticipated highlight of the competition was a duel against No. 1 Notre Dame for both the men’s and women’s teams, though the Fighting Irish came out on top both times. The Tigers were missing a few fencers; some were competing individually at the national level and others were sidelined with injuries. However, the teams said they were still pleased with their results.

“We practiced very hard before this event, because we had the Intersession break to run a week-long mini-camp, during which we trained for four hours a day,” head coach Zoltan Dudas said. “This week helped us get sharper before the Northwestern Duals, and we felt ready for the competition.”

On Saturday, the Princeton fencers collected eight wins and four defeats. The Tigers fell 14-13 in their battles agains both No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 5 Ohio State, but they were were able to defeat Wayne State, Caltech, Stanford and North Carolina by decisive margins. Princeton had similar success with all three weapons, collecting 38 wins with saber, 37 with epee and 35 with foil.

The men’s team had mixed results against its ranked opponents. The Tigers defeated No. 10 Stanford 17-10, but dropped matches to No. 1 Notre Dame 20-7 and No. 5 Ohio State 18-9. The men also collected three wins against unranked opponents Wayne State, Northwestern and North Carolina. Epee was the most successful weapon on Saturday, providing 34 wins, while saber won 29 duels and foil 26.

Sunday was a more successful day for both Tiger squads as every weapon performed well and the team swept all 11 of its matches. The women won six, including a victory over No. 9 Temple in a tight 16-11 duel. The only weapon to lose a match on Sunday was epee against Temple, which dropped a close battle 5-4. The Tigers also defeated Fairleigh Dickinson, Lawrence, Northwestern, University of California, San Diego and Detroit, shutting out the latter.

The men won all five of their matches, including victories over Cleveland State, Detroit, UC San Diego, Caltech and Lawrence. The closest match was against UC San Diego, which Princeton won 19-8.

Having several matches per day is not all that unusual for the team, according to Dudas. The team has a rotation that allows the fencers to get a much-needed and deserved mental and physical break during the all-day competition.

Dudas said that he was proud of his team’s performance, but added, “Of course, as a coach, I am never totally satisfied.” He believes that his team is right up there with the very best, including the Fighting Irish, against whom the Tigers were competitive again this year.

This weekend, the Tigers will host the Ivy League Championships in Jadwin Gymnasium. Both teams are looking to defend last year’s titles.

“Our fencers will be ready,” said Dudas. The team will spend this week analyzing the other teams’ fencers and focusing on its mistakes from this weekend.

Both teams will face Harvard in the last round on the first day of the competition, a match Dudas said will be “very decisive.” He predicts that on the women’s side, Harvard will be the biggest competition, while the Crimson and Penn will pose the toughest challenge to the men.