Penn struggles at PSU Open

Elisabeth Cornfield was the women's fencing team's top finisher, ending up in 16th place. The inexperienced members of the Penn women's fencing team got valuable experience last Saturday at the Penn State Open. And although the Quakers took their hits, they considered the suffering just part of the growing pains every young team must go through in order to improve. The highest finisher of the five Quakers who competed was senior Elisabeth Cornfield, who finished in 16th place in the epee. The other two women who competed in the epee were sophomore Meredith Galto and junior Ying Emmy Cho, who finished in 25th place and 34th place, respectively. There were two Quakers competing in the foil -- Agnieska Gromulska, who came in 23rd, and Margo Katz, who ended up 31th. Despite the results, the Quakers consider the tournament a success. The goal of the open and the other preseason tournaments is to get the team in shape for the real season. Moreover, numerous national powerhouses, including the host Nittany Lions, competed in the tournament, and nearly 75 women competed in each event. Penn's goal was not to win, but rather to allow the coaching staff to see how each member of the team was progressing and what each needs to work on. "The tournament was pretty much alright," Penn assistant coach Boris Tsypenyuk said. "For the first tournament, the results are satisfying. Our preseason goal is to train. We want to see what needs to be fixed and what we should practice. We are trying to give the girls as many bouts as possible." Making sure that the team gains tournament experience before the real season starts is especially important this year, as nearly half of the roster is comprised of freshmen. Along with the large number of rookies, many of the returning members have changed weapons, going from epee to foil. Different styles are used in each of these categories, making the squad even more inexperienced. "Fencing is pretty much technical," Tsypenyuk said. "We need to develop and work on our technical ability. The tournament gave us a lot of things to think about and ideas to help each girl. Everything was okay."