No. 5 Temple fencing goes 4-1 at Temple Invitational

Temple University fencing went 4-1 at the Temple Invitational on Sunday at McGonigle Hall. 

Temple, which is ranked No. 5 in the CollegeFencing360.com Women’s Coaches Poll, faced three teams which are ranked — Princeton University, Penn State and Penn.

Temple started the day with a 16-11 win against No. 6 Penn State. The sabre and foil squads both won 5-4 while the epee squad won 6-3.

Temple’s only loss of the day came against Princeton, which is the top-ranked women’s program. The Tigers defeated the Owls 15-12. While the epee squad won 5-4, the sabre and foil squads lost 5-4 and 6-3, respectively.

“That was a tough school,” senior foil Kennedy Lovelace said. “We of course hoped we would’ve won that, but it was a good fight. It was a close match. It was sad that we lost in our home turf but it was a good fight. All the girls are fencing well. The intensity was there. Just little mistakes we made that we’ll get next time.”

After losing to Princeton, Temple finished the day with three wins. Temple’s first match after Princeton was against Johns Hopkins University. Temple defeated Johns Hopkins 17-10 with the epee and foil squads earning 8-1 and 5-4 wins respectively. The sabre squad lost 5-4.

Temple then defeated No. 8 Penn 17-10 with all three weapons earning wins. The foil and epee squads both won 5-4 while the sabre squad won 7-2.

Temple concluded the day with a 15-12 win against St. John’s University. While both the foil and epee squads lost 5-4, the sabre squad won 7-2 to secure the win against the Red Storm.

In order to be successful for the rest of the day, the Owls had to move past the Princeton loss, senior sabre Malia Hee said.

“Because Princeton has always kind of been a goal for us to beat them, I just think as a team we do a really good job of kind of moving on,” Hee said. “If we win or lose, we do a good job of moving on to kind of focus on the next team and their opponents and what their skill sets are so we can kind of counter them in a way.”

The Owls also celebrated their Senior Day and honored their five seniors: Lovelace, Hee, sabre Kerry Plunkett and epees Quinn Duwelius and Camille Simmons.

“They have set the tone,” coach Nikki Franke said. “They have set the example. They have laid the groundwork and the foundation for what we’re able to do and what we’ve done this year. This has been one of our best years ever and it’s been because of the fact that those seniors really led by example.”

Next, the Owls will compete in the National Intercollegiate Women’s Fencing Association Championships on Saturday in Madison, New Jersey. The Owls will look to win their 25th consecutive NIWFA Championship.

“Hopefully, we can continue to win,” Lovelace said. “We’re excited to go there and kick butt, so it feels good.”