In each of the last two seasons, Temple Fencing has entered the Schiller Duals in Evanston, Illinois, trying to pull itself out of a slump. The event has served as a turning point for the team in the past but circumstances were much different this year for the No. 11 team in the nation.
But the Owls, who entered the weekend looking to continue a spark instead of create one, fell to their first three opponents to start the tournament. Right when things looked to be falling apart, they completely flipped the script.
Temple took command and won eight straight matches to end the event. Now, the Owls are looking to ride the momentum to make a final push to end their season on a high note.
“The whole season we’ve been building and having those really tight successes,” said head coach Jennie Salmon. “It adds to our confidence that, if we go in, stay confident throughout, know that there’s going to be tight matches where it’s up and down, but if we stick through and believe in each other to the very last touch, that we always have a chance.”
Temple (29-10) kicked off the season on the wrong foot, only winning two of its five matches at the Elite Invitational on Nov. 17. However, the losses came against No. 8 Cornell, No. 5 Northwestern and No. 3 Columbia. The Owls salvaged the event by picking up a 14-13 win against No. 14 Stanford.
The victory against the Cardinals gave Temple a spark that led to an undefeated showing at the Tradition Meet on Dec. 8. The Owls’ closest match of the day came in a 14-13 win against New York University, but they defeated the other four opponents by at least 17 bouts.
Temple rode the wave of success and also took down all eight opponents at the Philadelphia Invitational on Jan. 17 and 19. The foil and sabre squads were particularly impressive on the weekend, dropping only one match each.
The foil team has been the most consistent this season with Natalie Adams-Kim and Anna Novoseltseva leading the way with a 50-25 and 48-13 record, respectively. As a team, the foil squad has gone undefeated against 10 opponents.
Salmon has emphasized how strong Temple’s culture is, describing it more as a family than a team. The epeeists, the Owls’ largest unit, have shown that culture the most by coming together and learning to support each other on and off the strip, Novoseltseva said.
“Being able to put what we’re doing at practice on the strip at competition has been working very well,” Novoseltseva said. “And being able to support one another and giving each other good advice that we could all listen to, not only being there for our own squads, but everybody else, we find that really important.”
The Owls opened the Schiller Duals on Feb. 1 and 2 with a 15-12 loss to Northwestern but were still pleased with the overall performance, especially since they lost to Northwestern 20-7 earlier in the season.
Salmon became more worried when they endured a 14-13 loss to Denison. They held a team meeting to talk about being accountable for the loss and focus on fixing what went wrong. A big problem was being unprepared, so they ensured they were warmed up and ready to go when they stepped on the strip next, Salmon said.
Temple dropped the next match against No. 2 Notre Dame 14-13 but it pulled the Owls out of a slump that was threatening a bad performance for the remainder of the weekend. Temple beat Detroit Mercy 26-1 and used the energy for the rest of its matches, including against Cornell and No. 10 Ohio State.
“It was tough to lose the first three as we had two days ahead of us so mentally we didn’t have competition,” said sabreuse Eva Ventura. “Pushing each other and being more confident on the strip and getting those touches that were gonna give us more bouts were key for that.”
Temple had a dip in the record when it competed at the Penn State Invitational on Jan. 26. The Owls bested Wagner and No. 13 Penn State but fell to No. 7 Penn, No. 4 Princeton and Columbia.
Out of Temple’s nine losses, eight have come against ranked opponents and all have come against a team ranked higher than them. However, against competitors in the top 10 this season, the Owls only lose by an average of 6.1 bouts.
“I have the confidence that every single one of them, when they go out on the strip to represent the team and represent themselves, are going to give it their all,” Salmon said. “That they know the only expectation we have of them is to leave it all on the strip. We’ll win, we’ll lose, we’ll have tight matches, but as long as we are always giving our best on the strip and then also giving our best to each other off the strip, that we can’t lose.”
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