Women's fencing team takes second at New Englands

Following a two-week rest from its last regular season meet, the women's fencing team came out swinging at the New England Championships, taking second place in the overall team scores, sending the maximum number of nine fencers onto the regional tournament.

Heading into New Englands, the team was carrying an 8-3 record and was expected to do fairly well. However, few could have predicted that that the team would have had this type of success.

"It was one of the best performances I have seen out of our team," senior Emily Cappetta said. "If we continue to fence this well, we should be able to send some people to nationals."

The competition was composed of 12 teams from around the region, including Boston College, who Tufts had narrowly lost to the previous conference meet. This time, the Jumbos were ready, and convincingly beat the Eagles in the three-weapon team category. Overall, the team finished only behind MIT.

While the team's finish was encouraging, it was the individual performances that were the talk of the day. A school is allowed to send a maximum of nine fencers to regionals. Fencers are chosen if they have won over 25 percent of their NCAA bouts. After the competition this past weekend, Tufts had a whole range of fencers who qualified to compete in a few weeks for the opportunity to fence at nationals.

The qualified fencers come from the three different categories of fencing: epee, sabre, and foil. The epees include senior Frances Harper, junior Talia Alexander, and freshman Sasha Brodski. The sabres are seniors Mika Mutoh and Kasara Williams, and freshman Katherine Zouein. Finally, the foilists are junior Christina Zahara, freshman Julia Shih, and sophomore Zinger Yang.

While many believed that the season was pleasantly shocking for the Jumbos, members of the squad always felt they would have a strong season.

"There weren't any big surprises," senior Frances Harper said. "We've had a strong team all year, and we expected to do well...we have been able to hold a steady fourth place at New England Championships for the past four years, but this year the team is the strongest it has been since I've been on the team."

During the New England Championship's this past weekend, Tufts was able to place women in the top three in many of the categories. Top finishers included Zouein, Williams, and Mutoh, who all placed first in their respective sections for women's sabre. Shih also turned in a star performance, subbing in for injured senior Camillia Williams and taking second place in the foil competition.

Coach Jason Sachs was pleased with the team's performance, and while he thinks that a slight difference in practice style during the season may have helped, he understands that he has surrounded himself with strong talent.

"This year we changed our practices to a more structured and competitive manner," Sachs said. "I think this helped a lot. Mostly though, its just good fencers performing well."

In addition, he feels that the captains have done an excellent job in motivating the athletes.

"The captains are tremendous," Sachs said. "They do a lot of work and they really care about one another, and I think are beginning to really care about their teams accomplishments."

Next weekend, the squad gears up for another post-season bout in the National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association Championships. The competition will be similar to that of the New England Championship, only against different schools. The team hopes to continue its winning trend and finish in the top three at the NIWFA. In doing so, the Jumbos would fulfill a pre-season team goal few expected.