By Josie Emanuelli
The men’s and women’s fencing teams finished their dual meet season on Sunday in their typical outstanding fashion, with the men going 5-0 at the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Fencing Association (MACFA) Group A Round Robin hosted in the Simon Forum and the women going 5-2 at the Eastern Women’s Fencing Conference (EWFC) Championships hosted by Vassar College. In addition to this strong performance, Pearl Sutter (’18), Caitlin Kotz (’19), Natalya Shecherban (’19) and Claudia West (’19) all gave Second Team All-Conference performances. The men ended their dual meet season 22-18, their first winning season since the 2011-2012 season. The women ended with a 39-9 record.
On Sunday, the men fenced Cornell University, Marist College, The College of New Jersey, Rutgers University and Lafayette University. Their victory over Cornell was highlighted by a 9-0 sweep from the sabre squad, with a noteworthy 11-1 run by Zack Benicewicz (’20), who ended his dual meet season with a 65-18 record. Cameron Berger (’19) and Josh Ryan (’19) each posted nine wins in foil and Andrew Pidhorodeckyj (’19) finished with a 10-0 record in epee, bringing his dual meet record to 77-15 for the season.
The women had a similarly successful day, scoring victories against Vassar College, Haverford College, Hunter College, Yeshiva University and the City College of New York, falling only to Johns Hopkins and Stevens. Kotz posted a 17-4 record in foil during the team portion of the meet and made it to the quarter finals of the individual tournament before bowing out. She finished the dual meet season with 94 victories, the highest of the team. Sutter went 13-4 sabre, also making it to the quarter finals of the direct elimination round, which helped her earn her first All-Conference record. She finished her season with her highest win total so far with 88 wins. Shecherban gathered 11 wins on Sunday, earning her first All-Conference award as well as passing the 100 wins mark. West notched her first All-Conference honor as well, as she was able to enter the direct elimination tournament off the strength of her performance in the dual portion of the meet. Anna Scheckel (’18) was also able to hit the 100 wins mark in epee on Sunday, bringing her career total wins to 101.
Both teams will begin preparation for the postseason, as the men travel to Johns Hopkins to compete in the MACFA Championships on March 5 and the women will compete in the National Intercollegiate Women’s Fencing Association (NIWFA) Championships on March 4 in West Point, N.Y.
