Women's Fencing Does Well Against Big Odds
By Jennifer MosierTeam Member
The women's varsity fencing team had a very difficult series of meets on Saturday Feb. 3 at Brandeis. Facing some of the top fencing teams in the country, the team performed well against long odds.
The first meet was against Cornell University. The foil squad fenced a very strong meet and led the team to a 16-16 victory (11-5 foil, 5-11 epée). Captain Wanda Chin '97 led the team by winning all four of her foil bouts.
The team then faced Rutgers University, another strong team and lost 4-28 (1-15, 3-13). The third meet was against Northwestern, and despite another strong performance by Chin (3-1), the team lost 7-25 (5-11, 2-14).
The next meet was against Ohio State. All of the team members fenced well, including 3-1 finishes by Leejee Suh '97 and Amy Hwang '97 in foil.
Sara Perry '99 defeated the Ohio State University epée captain in the final bout to tie the meet score 16-16. Unfortunately Ohio State won the meet, although it was by only two touches (9-7, 7-9).
The final meet of the day was against the powerful Columbia University team. The MIT women put up a hard fight, with epeéist Nicky Leifer '98 going 3-1, but lost the meet 10-22 (4-12, 6-10).
By competing against the top schools in the country, the team is gaining valuable experience and earning respect for MIT fencing.
Head coach Jarek Koniusz commented that "we now have now succeeded in beating the top teams in New England. It is a privilege to be able to fence against the top schools in the country and that they take the time to travel to fence us. By competing against these schools we will be able to establish ourselves in the future as one of the dominant teams in the NCAA."
The next meet will feature competition against Division I schools on Saturday, Feb. 10 at Duke University.
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