New York University's men's and women's fencing teams competed at the Philadelphia Invitational, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania, on Saturday, January 18, in Philadelphia, PA.
The men's team competed in six matches, while the women faced five opponents.
The men defeated three of their opponents, outscoring the University of North Carolina (14-13), Penn State University (14-13), and Duke University (18-9). The Violets fell to UC San Diego (15-12), Johns Hopkins University (16-11), and host U. Penn (16-11).
The women defeated North Carolina (18-9), lost to Penn State (14-13), fell to Duke (16-11), beat Johns Hopkins (16-11), and were beaten by host U. Penn (15-12).
"The team overall had some solid wins against strong opponents, and we saw a few standout performances from our top fencers," said Head Coach
Ben Bratton. "Our women's epee squad went undefeated at the event until facing a very tough UPenn team. Our freshmen continue to impress, with standout performances from Ajit, Anup, and Katherine (Lefu)."
Indeed, Bratton's freshmen had outstanding showings for the Violets, with
Anup Banerjee posting a 12-3 mark in foil and
Ajit Sivakumar going 13-5 in epee for the men, while
Lefu Chen tallied an 11-3 mark in epee for the women.
Captain
Maria Stamos also had a strong day in foil, going 9-3 for the Violets.
"We're excited to build on these results as we head into the second half of the season," Bratton added.
Both teams will return to action this Friday, January 24, when they host Hunter College at the John A. Paulson Center. The Senior Day competition is set to begin at 6:00pm.
