HACKENSACK, N.J. - The Drew University women's fencing team closed out is regular-season dual-meet schedule on Sunday with a 3-3 day at the Fairleigh Dickinson University Invitational. The losses came at the hands of NYU (22-5) and close contests against Brandeis (15-12) and Division I foe NJIT (15-12). The three victories were recorded against LIU-Post (21-6), Tufts (20-7), and Division I Lafayette (22-5).
The split of the day's contests meant that the women's team notched the highest single-season win total in their history and pushed their season record to 42-11.
"We picked up 39 victories in each of the last two years. We just could not seem to get to that 40-win mark," said Drew Head Coach
Vincent Paragano. "I am glad that we finally got over that hurdle.
"We came into the day with 39 victories and with our men's team having already hit their first-ever 40-win mark the previous weekend. So, the gauntlet was thrown down for us. It was nice that the women could reclaim bragging rights to our program's best season record as of now. It will give something for both teams to shoot for next year."
Top performers on the day were saberists
Kayla Ogden (9-2) and
Emily Huber (8-4), foilists
Lydia Segal (9-5) and
Caitlin Kotz (8-5), and epee fencer
Grace McCarthy (8-6). Junior
Lydia Segal's nine victories included the 250th victory in her dual-meet career.
The most memorable parts of the day were not the top statistical record performers, but rather the performances by saberist
Emily Jones and epeeist
Claudia West in overcoming injuries. West battled a severely injured knee and back spasms in a thrilling 5-4 overtime victory over Brandeis's Jess Spear. Down 4-3, West pushed Spear down the strip and scored the equalizer with less than 10 seconds to go in regulation. Then, with Spear holding the advantage in overtime, West pounced for the winning score.
Jones also had to push pain to the back of her mind to register key wins throughout the day. In her first bout of the day, Jones took a severe parry hit to her weapon-hand thumb that tore away her nail. After a quick trip to the trainer to wrap the thumb and stop the bleeding, and following a change of gauntlets to contain the bulky bandaging, Jones was able to push through the pain to go 6-5 the remainder of the day.
"Both Claudia and Emily showed a lot of guts in hanging in and competing at a high level despite their injuries," remarked Assistant Coach
Brendan McNellis. "West led by example and Jones showed just how tough a freshman can be."
With the conclusion of the regular season schedule, the women's team now awaits possible invitations to the NCAA Regional Individual Championships. The invitations will be based on winning percentages and individual strength of schedule. The announcement of qualifiers is expected by March 2.
In the meantime, the women will host the 91st annual National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association Championships on Saturday at Simon Forum. The NIWFA Championships will feature both a team round-robin event and an individual championship. Opponents include Division I programs Temple University, FDU, and Wagner as well as Princeton University, University of Florida, Army, Navy, Haverford College, Stevens, Smith College, Rutgers University, Bryn Mawr College, City College of New York, TCNJ, and Hunter College.
