EVANSTON, Ill. – The Stanford fencing teams completed the two-day Northwestern Duals on Sunday with an impressive showing despite missing some key components.
Both the men’s and women’s teams wrapped up the regular season in Evanston, Ill.
The women’s team recorded four wins and two losses. The two setbacks were against ranked teams as they lost to No. 8 Penn, 15-12, and No. 9 Temple, 18-9. The difference in the Penn match was the three matches Stanford forfeited in the foil due to being one fencer short in the lineup as they have been all year. The Cardinal earned victories over Tufts (18-9), UC San Diego (17-10), Detroit Mercy (24-3) and Lawrence University (20-7) to end the regular season with a dual match record of 12-7.
Two underclassmen had big days for the Cardinal. Sophomore Vivian Kong and freshman Alexa Rohan each lost just once as they posted 17-1 records on Sunday. Each of their losses came in the match with No. 9 Temple.
Senior Francesca Bassa also only had one loss as she went 14-1, winning 14 straight matches after losing her first bout. Sophomore Avery Youngblood teamed with Rohan to make the sabre group a formidable weapon for Stanford on Sunday. Youngblood went 16-2 with both losses in the Temple match and a 15-0 mark in the other five duals.
The men’s team wrapped up the tournament with five wins in six matches on Sunday. Following a 15-12 loss to Duke to start the day, Stanford rolled through the schedule win victories over Cleveland State (18-9), Detroit Mercy (26-1), Lawrence University (23-4), UC San Diego (17-10) and Northwestern (22-5). The Cardinal men were able to accomplish the 5-1 record despite missing two All-Americans in Turner Caldwell and Alex Massialas from the lineup.
Even without Massialas, a 2012 Olympian, the foil group excelled. The three fencers, sophomore Justin Lee, and freshmen Stephen Aman and James Manson, combined to go 48-6 on the day. Aman lost just once in the Duke match and finished with a 17-1 mark. Lee was 16-2 and Manson was 15-3. Junior Paul Riviere led the epee group with a 14-4 mark and Daniel Wolfson paced the sabre squad with a 13-5 record.
The men’s team ended the regular season with an overall record of 12-4 in dual matches.
The next competition for the Stanford fencing team will be the NCAA Western Regionals. They will be held March 8-9 in Pasadena, Calif.