Wellesley Fencing Claims Second Straight NEIFC Championship
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - Wellesley College fencing captured the program's second straight three-weapon women's team championship on Saturday at the 2020 NEIFC Championships at Vassar College's Walker Fieldhouse.
Saturday's NEIFC Championships crowned team, squad and individual champions in foil, epee, and sabre, with team competition beginning in squad round robins before an elimination round that included a round robin pool and bracket determined the individual champion in each weapon.
The Blue captured the epee squad title and finished with the silver in foil and sabre, advancing a program record nine fencers to the individual finals. Senior Brie Maurer (Fredericksburg, Va.) was the individual gold medalist in foil, while first year Alexia Gilioli (New York, N.Y.) took silver. In epee, sophomore Panya Tang (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) and first year Kimberley Kimura (Los Angeles, Calif.) tied for bronze. Sophomore Yasemin Ersen (Newton, Mass.) was the bronze medalist in sabre.
Epee
Wellesley finished with 33 victories in 35 bouts and a +92 touch ratio in the Epee team round to win the weapon. Julia Calventus-Coveney (Barcelona, Spain) earned a perfect 12-0 record with a +44 touch ratio in Pool A, while Kimura won 11 of 12 bouts (+27) to win pool B and Tang finished 10-1 (+21) to take second in pool C. All three fencers advanced to the individual round.
Calventus-Coveney earned a bye in the first round of the knockout stage, after going 5-0 in the first round of individual competition, but ran into her teammate Kimura in the quarterfinals. After finishing 2-3 in her pool, Kimura advanced from the first round with a 5-3 victory over Jiayi Ruan of UMass. Kimura then defeated Calventus-Coveney, 15-6, to advance to the semifinals before her day came to an end with a one touch, 15-14, defeat at the hands of Elaine Wen of MIT.
Tang was 2-3 in her opening pool before using a bye to advance to the second round where she earned a 15-14 win over Katie Vella of Boston University. Tang would fall to eventual eppe champion Ashley Cherry of Sacred Heart, 15-9, in the semis. The result netted both Tang and Kimura third place honors for having advanced to the semifinals.
Foil
The Blue took second in the foil team standings with a 32-4 record (+120 touch ratio). Maurer was the top fencer in Pool A, going 11-1 (+37), while Gilioli was tops in Pool B with 11 wins in 12 bouts (+44). First year Isabella Stewart (Scarsdale, N.Y.) took second in Pool C with a 10-2 record (+38). All three fencers advanced to the individual round.
In the individual round, Maurer was undefeated, going 5-0 in her pool before winning three straight bouts in the elimination round to claim the NEIFC foil title for the first time in her career. In a Wellesley vs. Wellesley quarterfinal, Maurer defeated Stewart, 15-12 to advance to the semifinals and then earned a 15-9 victory over Jenna Waibel of Vassar to move to the final. Stewart was 2-3 in the opening pool.
Gilioli went 4-1 in her pool before going on to take down Zoe Tolbert of Vassar, 15-12, in the first round. A 15-12 victory over Jessica Gets of Brandeis set-up a match-up with Maurer in the final. Maurer went on to earn the title in her second Blue vs. Blue match-up in the bracket. Maurer, who finished with silver in foil in 2019, took a 15-12 victory over her teammate Gilioli to claim gold.
Sabre
Wellesley finished in second place in the sabre team standings, earning a 30-3 record with a +98 touch ratio to advance all three fencers to the individual elimination round. First year Brooke Dodrill (Boca Raton, Fla.) was 11-1 (+29) to win the A Pool, while Ersen added her own 11-1 mark (+40) to take second in Pool B. Junior Hanamei Shao (Vandenberg AFB, Calif.) finished 8-1 (+29) to earn second place in Pool C.
Ersen and Dodrill each earned 4-1 records in the individual sabre pool, while Shao finished with a 2-3 mark and did not advance to the bracket. Dodrill's day then came to an end with a 15-11 setback to Maggie Shealy of Brandeis in the first round. However, Ersen earned a 15-10 win over Jada Harrison of Brandeis in the quarterfinals before falling to eventual champion Kristen Palmer of MIT, 15-8, in the semifinals.
Wellesley fencing will now prepare for the 2020 NCAA Northeast Regional on Sunday, March 8, at Cornell University.