The New York University women's fencing team hosted its annual invitational at the Jerome S. Coles Sports Center in Manhattan on Sunday, January 22, and put up some solid performances against some of the top fencing teams in the nation.

Three teams ranked in the U.S. College Fencing Coach's poll competed at the invitational: University of Notre Dame (#3), St. John's University (#5) and Ohio State University (#6).

After falling to Ohio State 22-5 in the first round, NYU narrowly lost to Wayne State University in the second by a score of 14-13.

The Violets dropped their third match to St John's 26-1. However, NYU rebounded to defeat Yale University 14-13.

The Violets ended the day with an 18-9 loss to Notre Dame followed by a 21-6 loss to Northwestern University.

“I thought we competed very well,” commented NYU head coach Steve Mormando. “This is one of the toughest meets we have. Three out of the top six teams in the country were here.”

Individually, saber fencers Lisa Verzino and  andaaEricka Persson posted the most wins for NYU, with Verzino recording eight and Persson capturing seven. Audra Fox had the most foil victories for NYU way with six, while Meg Dadourian also totaled six wins in epee.

The Violets are now 5-10 this season. 

“Individually, I thought we had some good performances,” Mormando added. “Fencing against teams of this caliber can only make us stronger.”

The team will be back in action on Saturday, February 4, as it travels to Cambridge, MA, for the MIT Invitational.

Full Team Results