Women's fencing takes a stab at fourth H-Y-P title

By David Goldenberg

She was rushed to Yale-New Haven Hospital for emergency surgery. Now back at school, Anderson has recovered, but she will not be able to compete in this weekend's Harvard-Yale-Princeton (H-Y-P) meet at Princeton.

With only the H-Y-Ps and the Intercollegiate Fencing Association (IFA) competition left in the regular season, the Yale women's fencing team looks poised to remain undefeated going into the NCAA tournament at Notre Dame despite Anderson's absence. "We have a lot of confidence right now," Sharon Katz, MC '98, the epée team leader, said. "It goes to show the depth of our team. A great fencer like Whitney is out and the results are still the same."

Julia Tiernan/YH The Bulldogs will use their balanced attack to try to topple Harvard and Princeton this weekend

In Yale's 24-8 win over Brandeis on Sat., Feb. 14, Julia Bowsher, BK '99, stepped in for the injured Anderson and won all of her matches. "She gave a beautiful performance," men's and women's coach Harry Harutunian said. "We need to be successful, and with Whitney hurting very bad, Julia did what she had to do."

Anderson's absence has only given the women fencers another opportunity to rise to the occasion--something they have been doing all season long. Against Columbia, the foil team lost 10 of 16 bouts, but the squad as a whole ended up winning on the strength of 13 epée victories. The next week, the situation was reversed as the foil team crushed Pennsylvania to clinch the victory after the epée squad faltered. "When epée is in trouble, we help them out," team captain and lead foiler Alison Calabia, SM '98, said. "We expect them to do the same for us."

This was certainly the case against Brandeis, as Calabia and sophomore foil fencers Sarah Weeks, TC '00, and Esperance Schaefer, BR '00, all went 3-0 en route to a 14-2 drubbing in the foil. Yale's strength in both the foil and the epée will definitely help them this weekend at the H-Y-P championships. Princeton is known for its strong epée squad and Harvard for its dominant foil team, but neither is as well-rounded as Yale. "It will be a tough meet," Katz remarked, "but there is no reason we can't win. As long as we keep focused, we should win." If the Bulldogs want to keep the Ivy League championship trophy in New Haven, they will have to retain the H-Y-P crown as well, since Princeton is only one win behind Yale in league play.

On the strips of the seventh floor of Payne Whitney, there are no signs of letting up. Harutunian likes what he sees, but he worries that illness seems to be circulating throughout the team, and may severely hamper chances for success.

"We have heart and loyalty," he said, "but the question is health." As he pointed out all of the sick fencers around the room, he commented. "They are here, though, practicing. They are loyal and they understand their responsibility."

In order to maintain the sharpness of his female fencers, Harutunian has them practice against the men's team, which includes Olympic fencer Peter Devine, MC '99, and this year's Junior Olympic bronze medalist Ayo Griffin, SM '00. Having such stiff competiton forces the women to minimize all mistakes and push them to their absolute best. "They have to be on the top of their form," Harutunian said.

After this weekend's H-Y-Ps, the Yale fencing team travels to M.I.T. for the IFA championships on Sat., Feb. 28 and Sun., Mar. 1. This tournament, which brings together most of the top fencing teams in the East, is not sanctioned by the NCAA, but nevertheless will be considered when teams are seeded for the NCAA tournament. "By then, Whitney might be back and ready to fence. But there are no guarantees on that," Katz said. "Either way, we plan to win." Last year, the women crushed their IFA competition, placing first to keep their undefeated record intact.

If the Bulldogs are victorious, they will set themselves up for the Northeast Regional bracket of the NCAA tournament. And if the epée and foil teams continue to complement each other as they do now, there is no telling how far they will go. "We're like the Musketeers," Harutunian said. "All for one and one for all."

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