The men’s and women’s fencing teams competed at the Shark Showdown at Long Island University this past Sunday. The men went 2-2 against four schools, while the women went 3-2 against five schools in the meet.
For the men, the Leopards won 21-6 and 16-11 against Hunter College and Long Island University, respectively, but dropped matches 16-11 to Wagner College and 19-8 against New York University.
Freshman sabre Nikita Kogan said he thought the men’s team played “pretty well.”
“It wasn’t our best meet, but we were positive,” Kogan said.
Kogan went 7-5 in his bouts on Sunday. Junior epée Tyler Morse led the way for the men with 10 victories, followed by freshman epée Ryan Leibowitz’s eight wins. Senior foil Amir Whitehead, senior epée Antoine Mannes and freshman sabre Jordan Ginsberg matched Kogan’s tally of seven.
“What we wanted to improve on is just individual tactics for each fencer,” Kogan said. “Everyone has their own problems that they needed to be fixed, so we’re working on those.”
For the women, the Maroon and White took home wins against Hunter 21-6, LIU 15-12 and Yeshiva University 23-1, but fell to Wagner 17-9 and NYU 23-4.
Senior epée Zoe O’Connor paced the Leopards with 12 wins across the five matches, and senior sabre Brooke Lippe and freshman foil Zoe Lenz each added 10 of their own.
“I think I did pretty well overall,” Lenz said. “We fenced some schools that are pretty good.”
Lenz noted that while the men play this Sunday at the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Fencing Association Championships, the women have the week off to gear up for NCAA regionals.
She mentioned that she is looking to work on her one and two-tempo attacks in the 2-week interim.
The Leopards also hosted a rescheduled meet against the Rutgers University club team Monday night, which doubled as their Senior Night.
Lenz also said that Rutgers only brought two women’s fencers.
“They put some of the women in against the men too, which doesn’t normally happen, definitely can’t happen in the NCAA,” she said.
“Rutgers is a club team, so we could do what we wanted with that,” she added.
While the women return next on March 8 for NCAA regionals, the men will take on the MACFA Championships on Saturday.
“I think at least for the sabre squad, we want to qualify for NCAA nationals,” Kogan said. “For that, we need to do well at the regionals.”
Disclaimer: News Editor Makenna McCall ’27 is a member of the fencing team. She did not contribute writing or reporting.
