Posted: Feb 06, 2011
Wellesley Fencing Goes 5-1 at Final Northeast Conference Meet
WELLESLEY, Mass. – The Wellesley College fencing team ended the 2010-11 Northeast Fencing Conference season on a high note, posting a 5-1 record on their home turf. The Blue recorded wins over Smith College, UMass-Amherst, Dartmouth College, Tufts University and Sacred Heart University, with their only blemish coming in a tight loss to overall Champion, Vassar College.
Wellesley opened the day with a 17-10 victory over New England-rival, Tufts. Wellesley won both the epee (6-3) and foil (8-1) matches, but fell 6-3 in the sabre competition.
Up next, the Blue notched back-to-back 18-9 match victories, defeating Smith and UMass. Against Smith, epee won 8-1, foil won 7-2, but the sabre squad fell, 6-3. In the UMass match, the sabre squad got redemption with a 6-3 win, while foil won 7-2 and epee picked up a narrow 5-4 victory.
Wellesley then faced Vassar, who with a win would clinch the NEFC title. An opening 8-1 loss in the sabre competition proved to be too much to overcome, as epee also dropped their match, 6-3. The Blue did come out on top in foil, defeating the Brewers 7-2 for an overall match score of 16-11 in favor of Vassar.
Closing out the competition, Wellesley posted wins over two Division-I opponents. The Blue knocked out a 20-7 win over Dartmouth and then defeated Sacred Heart, 16-11. Against Dartmouth, epee posted a 9-0 sweep while sabre won, 7-2. Foil then dropped a tight 5-4 decision. Against Sacred Heart, Wellesley won all three weapons, picking up a 6-3 win in sabre, and 5-4 victories in both epee and foil.
Individually, Ashley Paquin led five Wellesley fencers who posted 10 or more victories. Paquin boasted a 15-3 overall record in epee, while squad-mate Anne Benjamin went 13-4. In foil, Wendy Chin went 14-4 overall, while Hannah Braaten recorded a 13-5 record. Elizabeth Rowen led the sabre squad with a 12-6 mark.
Another individual highlight for the Blue was Jenny Mittleman's perfect 4-0 record in foil. Wellesley also got strong showings from Taysir Mahmoud, who stepped up to fill an injury, and posted five victories in epee. Rounding out the action, Dania Wright picked up eight sabre wins, while Jacqueline Shen went 1-0 in her only bout.
In the midst of one of the best seasons in the history of the program, the 5-1 record at today's competition puts Wellesley at 22-4 overall. The team is back in action on Tuesday, facing Brandeis University on the road at 7:00pm, and then looks forward to the New England Championships on February 27th.