Women's Fencing frosh impress at first meet of the season

The Penn women's fencing team is back in business after slashing their way through the competition at the Temple Open this past weekend.

While many Penn fans may have had their doubts whether or not the Quakers would be the same after losing two prominent seniors -- Mindy Nyguen and Abby Lifter -- last year, this excellent showing was highlighted by standout performances by many of the new fencers.

Freshmen Jean Goto seemed to make an easy adjustment from high school as she dominated the eppe competition, emerging first from a field of 64.

Christina Kaneshige, another freshmen phenom, took third in the foils.

"It is very promising [that] the freshmen did really well," junior June Hsu said. "We have a very positive outlook for the season."

The freshmen performed well against teams that Penn will see again this season, including Temple, Rutgers, Princeton, Penn State, North Carolina and Cornell.

But it wasn't just the rookies who came out swinging. Senior Christina Verigan showed that the Red and Blue are still formidable in the sabres, taking third.

In support, junior June Hsu, who switched from foil to sabre in order to fill the gap of graduated stars, went 9-1 to take seventh.

This is just a harbinger of what is to come. With less than a month of training under their belts, the team is looking good for the future.

In her first-ever fencing competition after switching sports from diving, sophomore Ashley Zeigler showed serious potential as she took 44th place.

The competition "is very different from diving although the mentality is similar. This was my first competition and everything is a step up," Zeigler said.

Other freshmen performances were also impressive, with foilists Monica DeFabio took sixth, while Kate Napalkova finished 16th.

Veteran Rebecca Richman did not treat this event as a warm-up, wielding her weapon with such gusto that she broke her eppes twice in one match. Richman took 17th in the eppe.

Although the outcome was great, there the individual competition does not have any reflection on the team's record. The open, along with the Penn State Open in a few weeks, is a chance for the players to learn about themselves and their opponents.

"It was a good experience," Napalkova said. "It was good to see what level that everyone was competing at just to test it out."

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