The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/fencing/page/4/)
Coming off an impressive showing at the Princeton Duels two weeks ago, the fencing team is heading to Columbia this weekend. Sunday will mark the beginning of the team’s Ivy play as the women will face Brown, Princeton and Harvard, before facing the rest of the Ivy fencing teams later this month.
The fencing team kicked off the spring semester on a high note, winning four of its five matches this Sunday at the Princeton Duels. The team beat Drew, North Carolina, Haverford and Duke, before losing to Temple at the end of the day.
Head coach Iryna Dolgikh attributed the team’s success to its “excellent organization, improving spirit and experience from last year. We competed against word-level fencers last year, so now we started the year stronger and more confident. We won many matches at Princeton 5-4. Even if the other team was stronger, my team fought.”
She added that the team has benefited from the return of two epeeists, seniors Sallie Dietrich and Tasha Hall, who were both abroad last semester. The epee squad as a whole was undefeated at Princeton.
On Sunday the fencing team will travel to Massachusetts for the Brandeis Invitational, Cornell’s last tournament of the semester. The team will face off against Boston College, St. John’s, Haverford, MIT, Yale and Brown, as well as the host Brandeis.
“We’re facing really strong competitors,” head coach Iryna Dolgikh said, “but the success we showed at the Cornell Invitational will help us go ahead and beat many of the others.”
She said the team has good chances against Boston College, MIT and Brandeis, and had played close matches with several of the other schools in previous years. The team’s biggest threat seems to be St. John’s, which did very well in last year’s NCAA tournament.
This year, the fencing team expects to be better than ever. With hardly any recently graduated seniors and several new freshmen, team captain Katherine Thompson said, “All three squads are getting better.”
“The climate and discipline of the team changed a lot [this year],” agreed head coach Iryna Dolgikh. “There is a lot more discipline.”
After strong individual showings by the women at the Temple Collegiate Open, the team will be tested in the upcoming months at the Brandeis and Wellesley Invitationals coming up in December and January.
This weekend the fencing team dominated at the Cornell Fencing Invitational, the team’s first — and last — home meet of the season. They defeated Yeshiva University, 27-0, and Stevens Institute of Technology, 20-7 on Sunday. Stevens also beat Yeshiva, 20-7.
“I’m glad with how well we did,” said team captain junior Katherine Thompson.[img_assist|nid=33878|title=‘X’ marks the spot|desc=Freshman foil specialist Rebecca Hirschfield competes in her individual fice-touch match against Yeshival University on Sunday. The Red won, sweepig Yeshiva, 27-0.|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0]
This Sunday, the fencing team will host its only home tournament of the season when Stevens Institute of Technology and Yeshiva University travel to Ithaca for the Cornell Fencing Invitational.
“We have a good relationship with these schools,” said head coach Iryna Dolgikh. “And I’m very sure my girls will show good results.”
[img_assist|nid=33804|title=Tag, you’re it|desc=The fencing team will host its only home tournament of the year this Sunday.|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0]
Cornell beat both schools last year, as well as Johns Hopkins, which will not be returning this year. In all three matchups, Cornell’s score was 63-18.
The tournament is significant in that it is the first team-based tournament of the semester.
The fencing team got off to a great start this weekend with its first tournament of the season. After two open pools, several Red fencers made it to the direct elimination round, with three women making placing in the top-10.
The Temple Collegiate Open, which was attended by 32 colleges, is an individual tournament and therefore does not count towards the NCAA championships. Nevertheless, head coach Iryna Dolgikh said the team used the event to “check our power” and introduce the freshmen to college-level fencing.
The fencing team is heading to Philadelphia for the Temple Collegiate Open this Saturday.
“This weekend will be some of the best fencing, because there will be lots of people with lots of experience,” said junior captain Katherine Thompson.
[img_assist|nid=33595|title=Touche|desc=The women’s fencing team places first in last year’s Cornell Invitational. This Saturday, the team is heading to Philadelphia to compete in the Temple Collegiate Open.|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0]
The open is an individual tournament that consists of two sessions of round robin style open pools, followed by a direct elimination round. Since the tournament is individual, it does not count towards the team’s record or for the team members’ NCAA records.
The fencing team will unleash its swords for the first time this season as it travels to Philadelphia this weekend for the 26th annual Temple Open.
This tournament has traditionally served as a chance for Cornell to evaluate its squad in the preseason, and recently the competition has been stronger than ever. Last year, over 20 schools were represented, ranging from Florida to Brandeis and including many members of the Ancient Eight.