For the women of the Tufts fencing team, it was the end of a long and eventful season, and despite a disappointing finish at Sunday's NCAA regional championships at Yale University, the last meet was far from characteristic of the successful season the Jumbos enjoyed.
"We only lost to very strong fencers from elite fencing programs," coach Jason Sachs said. "We are always the underdog, and we can not always do amazing things."
If the Jumbos were the underdogs, then the favorites at the meet were some of the strongest fencing teams in the country, including Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, Boston College, Brandeis and more. Despite this, the team was positive heading into Sunday.
"We all went in there optimistic, hopeful at best," freshman foilist Jamie Kraut said. "But we knew that the competition was above and beyond what we had seen throughout the season."
The format of the event was individual competition only, with the top fencers in each weapon category moving on to the NCAA championships, which will be held March 17-20 at Rice University in Houston. Five members of the team made it to the regional championships after last week's qualifiers. Freshman Emily Cooperman and junior Julia Shih represented the foil squad along with Kraut, and freshman Diana Barger and sophomore Louisa May Zouein competed for the sabre group.
After placing fencers into the championship round the last two years, only Shih moved beyond the first round of competition, losing in the second round. Overall Shih finished 19th in the foil division, followed by Kraut in 21st place and Cooperman in 22nd. Barger placed 19th in the sabre category, followed by Zouein in 21st.
"It was a huge disappointment for me," said Zouein. "I got so nervous I couldn't fence. I dropped easy bouts. But it happens in all sports. Sometimes you're on top of your game and sometimes you're not."
Despite the disappointment, this competition was a good lesson for the entire team, and the season in general has been a strong indication of the potential this squad has for next season.
"Everyone fenced well, and we had a great season," said Sachs. "Next year promises to be even better as we have an outstanding corps of great fencers. This team performed above all expectations and honestly I could not be happier with their results throughout the year."
This season can certainly be labeled a rebuilding year. The team not only started the semester off with the loss of their veteran fencer, junior Katherine Zouein, but the squad was comprised mainly of freshmen and relatively inexperienced fencers.
It has been a valuable learning experience, however, for the entire team, and has given confidence and experience to a group of youthful fencers for next year.
"The experience from fencing such talented opponents was invaluable," Kraut said. "I was inspired by the remarkable skill of all of the top fencers and watched the final bouts in awe for over an hour, observing at their moves to make improvements in my own fencing, and using them as models for what I aspire to."
This type of mentality will greatly help the team next year, which should not suffer from as high a turnover rate as it did this year. Fencing president Shih is confident about the team's future.
"We frequently have to rebuild our team as seniors graduate. We have to train people who are interested in fencing but have never picked up a blade before," Shih said. "While this is a difficult situation to have to be in year after year it's also extremely rewarding to see a new fencer be successful. This team is incredibly young and we have a solid foundation for the future."
