New York University's men's and women's fencing teams competed at the Shark Tank Challenge, hosted by Long Island University, on Sunday, November 23, in Brooklyn, NY. Both squads fenced four matches and finished the day with two wins apiece.
The NYU men opened competition against Yale, falling 17–10. The Violets won epee (5–4) but dropped saber 6–3)and foil (7–2). Their match against St. John's was another close contest, with NYU falling 15–12 after taking foil (5–4) and coming up short in saber (6–3) and epee (5–4). The Violets responded strongly in their final two bouts, defeating Wagner 19–8 behind wins in saber (6–3), foil (7–2), and epee (6–3). They then delivered their most dominant performance of the day with a (21–6) victory over LIU, sweeping foil (9–0) while also winning saber (5–4) and epee (7–2).
On the women's side, NYU opened with a loss to Yale 21–6, where the Bulldogs claimed saber (7–2) and foil (9–0), while NYU kept epee close (5–4). Against St. John's, the Violets fell 16–11, winning epee (6–3) and keeping foil competitive (5–4). NYU closed the day with two commanding victories, defeating Wagner 22–5 with sweeps in saber (6–3), foil (9–0), and epee (7–2), followed by a dominant win over LIU 23–4, highlighted by an 8–1 saber round, a perfect foil round (9–0), and a strong epee showing (6–3).
Jerry Pan posted seven victories in saber for the men, while
Julius DeStefano contributed five victories in epee, including a 3–0 performance against Wagner..
Katherine Chen continued her exceptional month for the women's team after earning bronze last weekend at the November NAC in Division I women's epee. She finished the Invitational with a 7–1 record, including an undefeated 3–0 performance against Yale and a 2–1 mark versus St. John's.
"Katherine had a really good day," said Head Coach
Ben Bratton. "She went 7–1 on the strip and put up undefeated results against some very competitive squads."
Audrey Shitamoto added seven foil victories for the Violets.
"Overall, the performance by the team was really what I expected," Bratton added. "They fought really hard against tough teams like St. John's and Yale, and then by the afternoon delivered against Wagner and LIU the way that I think we should. We definitely ended on a good note."
The Violets return to action at the Sacred Heart Tradition Meet, hosted by Sacred Heart University on Saturday, December 6, in Fairfield, CT,
