Category: USACFC

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USACFC

USACFCS 2025

4.5.2025-4.6.2025

Men’s Epee

Nolan Coughlin ‘25, Eric Montesi ‘26, and Lorenzo So ‘28 gave it their all at USACFCs. Eric finished 14th in the individual event, losing to the eventual winner in the round of 16, while both Nolan and Lorenzo were taken out in the round of 64. The boys were joined by alumnus Doug “X” Tableman ‘13 on Saturday, and he gave brilliant coaching throughout the individual competition. Thank you Coach Doug! On Sunday, Nolan led the charge, going an impressive 9-4 as men’s epee finished 14th in the team event, leaving it all on the strip against strong club teams. With this being his senior CFCs and having been to every Nationals in his career, “Titan” will be dearly missed by Epee squad and the team at large.

Women’s Epee

Sarah Gresham ’25, Rebekah Gresham ’25, Charlotte Follenus ’28, and Kata Kovari ’28 were defending champs at CFCs, and finished 5th place in the team event, a strong result given that half the squad had less than a year of fencing experience. In the individual competition, Coach Doug and the squad watched as Sarah and Rebekah tragically had to fence each other in the round of 16, with Sarah taking the 15-14 win. In the end. Sarah took 7th place and Rebekah took 9th place out of 125 competitors. With the Greshams graduating this year, women’s epee will look to retool and build up new talent to carry on their winning ways.

Men’s Foil

CFC’s was a difficult outing for Men’s Foil. Dale DeVinney ‘27, Kevin Sae-Tung ‘26, and Conrad Burton ‘26 fought hard in the individuals, with Kevin performing best winning an even 3-3. Unfortunately, the team fell to UC San Diego in the first round. Men’s foil will be back stronger than ever next time around. 

Women’s Foil

The women’s foil team—Kate Ingle ’27, Sarah Terpening ’27, and Angela Liu 25—brought intensity and resilience to the strip this weekend. On the first day of competition, Kate advanced to her second direct elimination bout, showing sharp timing and control in her early matches. Though Sarah and Angela didn’t make it past pools that day, both picked up strong wins that kept team morale high and the energy focused.

Day two proved to be a much tighter field, and the team rose to the occasion. In one of the most competitive matches of the day, the women’s foil squad narrowly fell to Smith College, holding them to a close 5-4 score. Angela fenced with precision and confidence, securing critical touches, while Sarah showed great adaptability and continued to build on her footwork and strategy. The entire squad showed tremendous growth over the course of the weekend, and they’re already looking ahead to their next chance to prove themselves on the strip.

Men’s Saber

The William & Mary Men’s Saber A-squad traveled to Penn State last weekend to compete at the Club Fencing National Championships (CFCs), facing off against top club programs from across the country. Representing the Tribe were Connor “Lancelot” Cassidy ’25, Evan “Duke” Jackson ’25, and Ryan “Chronos” Rauscher ’27, who each fenced individual pools and direct elimination rounds on day one before teaming up for the squad event on day two. Individually, the trio held their own in a strong national field—Cassidy brought his usual calm under pressure, Jackson maintained sharp tactical discipline, and Rauscher’s aggressive tempo earned him a few standout wins.

On day two, the team rallied for the team event, facing UMass Amherst in a tight elimination match. Despite a strong showing, they came up just short, falling 4–5 in a well-fought battle. While they didn’t walk away with medals this time, the squad gained valuable experience and proved they could go toe-to-toe with some of the best club programs in the country. It was a weekend of tough fencing, great sportsmanship, and a solid step forward for the program on the national stage.

Women’s Saber

Abby Borgeson ’28, Sophia Lee ’27, and Isabelle Neely ’28 took on a full day of six individual pools each, winning multiple bouts and scoring 48 touches collectively. The next day proved more challenging—the team was matched against Georgetown University, the third seed of the championships after individuals, and suffered a 5-0 loss during the team bout. This was the first CFC all three fencers competed in together; the squad strives to improve their sabre skills within the next year and continue building upon their competitive experiences.

Categories
USACFC

USACFC Championships 2024

4.13.24 – 4.14.24

Women’s Foil

After a stunning win at SIFA earlier this year, women’s foil arrived at CFCs ready to win some bouts. The TC Trio of Lucy  “Gecko” Kasper ‘24, Angela “Luna” Liu ‘25, and Karino “Jasmine” Gibson ‘24 all came eager to fence and kick butt. Women’s foil took 25th place in the team event, with all three fencers doing a great job. In the individual event, Gecko placed 29th out of 106 fencers, using her unbreakable defense to parry any attack and beat up her opponents. Luna fenced with patience and grace, winning many bouts. Karino looked to have cast hexes upon her opponents, defeating one unwitting fencer 5-0 in a team bout. Women’s foil delivered a gutsy performance at CFCs, and has a bright future ahead. We will miss Karino’s fearless leadership as president and Gecko’s infinite wisdom as co-captain, but even as they graduate, a new generation of women’s foil talent is ready to be unleashed on the competition, carefully trained up by our seniors and ready to put the hurt on all the schools they face.

Women’s Epee

Going into the Collegiate Fencing Championship tournament, Women’s epee had an incredibly strong team made up of Rebekah “Opal” Gresham ‘25, Sarah “Tarot” Gresham ‘25, and Anna “Lotus” Saal ‘27. On Saturday they showcased their speed and strength to the competition when all three won all bouts in their pools, with many overwhelming victories. All three went into direct eliminations with very good seedings and out of a tableau of 128, all three made it to the top 16 bracket. In the bracket of 16, Lotus fenced very hard against an opponent and showcased her dynamic parries and quick lunges. Although she ended up losing and placing 10th, the bout was very hard fought and Lotus displayed amazing fortitude and never-ending determination. Tarot advanced to the bracket of 8, in which she lost to an incredibly difficult opponent by only a couple of touches, ultimately placing 5th. Opal continued to sweep through the competition collecting wins until she was in the finals bout. She ended up having to fence an opponent that she had lost to last year in direct eliminations, but she refused to back down. In a bout that was neck-in-neck until the last period, Opal focused very hard, making multiple beautiful arm touches and perfectly timed parries. Despite the opponents best efforts to fleche and make touches, Opal won the bout by being even quicker and stronger, taking home the first place medal. On Sunday, despite all members being very tired and sore, women’s epee refused to lose. Similar to the first day, Opal used her speed and agility to land many arm touches and contentious in-fights, Tarot used her directional changes to bait and counterattack effectively against opponents, and Lotus used her patience to land perfectly timed parries and immaculate lunges against her opponents. They fenced Michigan State University and then Dartmouth College, winning both 5-0 and 5-1 respectively. In the semi-finals, they fenced the University of California Santa Barbara winning with an impressive 5-2 victory. The finals bout was against the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a tough opponent, but women’s epee fought and coached each other to an astounding 5-1 win. Lotus, Tarot, and Opal all fenced using their unique styles, extreme speed, and determination to bring home a first place team medal and trophy.

Women’s Saber

Elizabeth “Horizon” Lawless, Sophia “Barracuda” Lee, and Delia “Nightshade” Figlozzi came to the Collegiate Fencing Championships ready to do their very best! Barracuda and Nightshade, although drafted from foil, trained diligently and performed well in a new weapon environment. Nightshade, struck by illness, still stood her ground on the strip, scoring consistently and challenging any opponent that crossed her path. Barracuda’s speed and aggression consistently stunned foes. The two foilists learned much about the ways of saber in such a short time, and their skill and knowledge of the weapon dramatically increased over the course of the two day tournament! It was Horizon’s first experience at a collegiate tournament– her speed and phenomenal parries placed her in the top 32 for the individual event! Together, the three did very well and strengthened their friendship along the way.

Men’s Foil

In a break from last year’s tradition, Men’s Foil arrived at CFCs with a team of mens foilists. Arriving Saturday still tired from setup the night before, the trio of Jack ‘ Yeti’ Bratton ‘24, Nick ‘Osiris’ Reeder ‘24, and Thomas ‘Vice’ Mahnken ‘24 suited up so they could begin waiting for their flighted pools to begin as quickly as possible. Several hours later, they emerged from pools seeded 5th, 42nd, and 61st respectively. Vice would fall in the first round, Osiris would progress to the second round before being eliminated by #23, and Yeti would relentlessly plow through the bracket, only being stopped in the semi-finals. Sunday began just as Saturday had: with about 5 hours of sleep and confusion over strip assignments. Beginning the day seeded 11th, the squad’s first opponent was -BYE-, seeded 54th. After -BYE- failed to appear at the strip, the round was given the W&M. Their second opponent, University of Massachusetts Amherst (henceforth referred to as UMass) put up a valiant struggle which fencing historians have since likened to the final stand of the Spartans at the battle of Thermopylae. After a 5-1 loss in the initial bout, W&M would win the next 5 bouts, securing both victory and progression to the next round. Their third second opponent, University of Florida posed an even tougher challenge. Facing a 4-2 disadvantage after the first 6 bouts, all three fenced valiantly. Yeti secured a decisive 5-1 win, bringing the overall score to 4-3. Vice fenced what he described as “the best I have ever fenced since beginning college” in a bout that sadly was not recorded, evening the score at 4-4. Osiris, bringing it home, secured the win for W&M by winning the 9th and final bout of the round. Progressing to the round of 8, the next opponent was Cornell. The trio fenced intrepidly, but through a combination of soreness and the Cornell team being seeded 3rd, they were forced to accept defeat. As disappointing a loss as it was, the W&M Foil Dream Team™ would end the day placed 8th, a marked improvement over last year’s result and a result that all three graduating seniors can be proud of.

Men’s Epee

Men’s epee rocked up to CFCs with their sights set on victory as Armin “D.O.W. Jones” Bagha ‘24, Jake “Merlin” Schapiro ‘24, Nolan “Titan” Coughlin ‘25, and Eric “Helios” Montesi ‘26 came to win bouts and have fun. Armin was all skill, cool and calculated as he dismantled his opponents. Jake’s counters and control of distance left his opponents befuddled. Nolan was powerful and precise as he dominated the competition. Eric used tempo and timing to break any defense. In the individual event, all of our boys dominated their pools, and everyone fenced hard in their DE bouts. Armin was finally unleashed upon CFCs, and kept up  the incredible form he has shown all season as he battled through injury to take 5th in the individual event. Going into the team event seeded sixth out of 37 schools, men’s epee carved their way through their first two opponents, dropping only two bouts. Tragically, they fell in a hard-fought series against Texas that went down to the wire, ending in a 4-5 loss. Hampered by injury and exhaustion, our boys left it all on the strip as they fenced off for placement, ultimately taking 8th in the team event. It was the last collegiate event for Armin and Jake, and our two seniors fenced brilliantly. Their great performances capped off the best season men’s epee has had in years. Armin’s words of wisdom and Jake’s angelic singing will be missed at future competitions, but their legacy of victory has the squad determined to continue winning at every event they go to. As a new era begins in men’s epee, the culture they established will continue to produce the hardest working, somewhat conditioned, most unselfish and stylish squad in Virginia.

Men’s Saber

Coming in hot off the heels of a strong performance at MACFA Champs, Men’s saber showed up and showed out, finishing in 14th place as a team. Evan “Duke” Jackson ‘25, Connor “Lancelot” Cassidy ‘25, and Ryan “Chronos” Rauscher ‘27 all fenced brilliantly at CFCs. Chronos used his massive frame and blinding speed on attack and defense to thrash his opponents, finishing 19th out of 142 fencers in the individual. Always calculating, Duke balanced aggression with clinical defense as he stayed one step ahead of his opponent’s tactics, knowing what they would do before they did it. Lancelot used his quickness in the box, strong parries, and the LanceLockout™ to befuddle his opponent, his unorthodox style proving too much for even experienced fencers to handle. Men’s saber finished the best season they’ve had in years by finishing 11 spots ahead of their CFCs result last year, showing vast improvement and promising great things to come, as everyone on the squad is returning, hungry for greater success. Vorp?

Categories
USACFC

USACFC Recap

This year, the team traveled to Sportsplex in Bucks County, Pennsylvania for the USACFC event. The team was able to bring solid squads and competed to the best of their abilities.
Épée
Men’s epee entered CFCs ready to take on many tough club opponents. Pulak Raj, Benjamin Coleman, and Greg Quigg traveled to Bucks County, Pennsylvania for their biggest tournament of the year. Benjamin Coleman, fencing at his last USACFC tournament had his best showing yet, finishing with an even record. He took down many of his toughest opponents with his wrist picks on his way to victory. Greg Quigg had a difficult start but was able to reign it in by the end and pull off big victories, including a close 5-4 bout with GTU. Pulak Raj fenced and beat many opponents he lost to earlier in the season. Overall, men’s epee showed how much they had improved over the entire season.Nikki “Forrest” Petzer ‘19, Sarah “Shaw” Sues ‘20, and Chrystanthi “Ursa” Stevens ‘19, had many successes at CFCs this past weekend. Women’s epee squad focused strongly on teamwork on comradery throughout the tournament, supporting one another through wins and losses. Forrest had a rough start during individuals, but really came into her own as the day progressed, winning 4 of her 5 final bouts, and going undefeated the following day. Shaw had an impressive performance on Saturday, beating several fencers with her counterattacks and powerful bladework. Making a much appreciated epee appearance, resident saberist, Ursa, earned many key victories throughout the tournament, surprising many opponents with her saber speed and flare.Foil
Men’s Foil placed 17th at USACFCs, defeating Stonybrook, Denison and Virginia Tech on the way. The three men’s foilists that fenced were Matt Cusick, Faisal Al-Alami and Stuart Thomas. All three fencers performed well and won plenty of bouts. Some notable victories included Matt Cusick beating Willem Joseph of Stonybrook 5-4, as Joseph had placed 3rd in individuals the previous day. Another highlight of the event was Stuart beating all three members of Virginia Tech, securing the victory over that school. Faisal had some highlights of his own, one of which was securing a win over Denison University in the 9th and final bout. Overall, all three men’s foilists fenced well, and because none of them are graduating this year, you can expect an even stronger performance next year.

Elizabeth Sutterlin ’20, Julie Vu ’20, and Julianne Cook ’21 showed up at CFCs ready to fence their hardest at the last tournament of the year. The squad had a tough start on Saturday, but the three women were able to improve their seeding in team DEs on Sunday to earn 18th place. In the second and third DE rounds, W&M women’s foil swept both UT Knoxville and Denison 5-0.
Elizabeth refused to be discouraged by the stiff competition from other schools’ A-strips, and she used Saturday’s results as even more motivation to fence her best on Sunday—and did she ever! She scored W&M’s only victory against UC Berkeley and went 4-4 against an internationally ranked fencer from Boston University. In that bout she fought until the end, losing the close match in priority but happy with her performance. Julie gave the tournament her all as it was her first and final CFCs, and she had a great record coming out of pools on Saturday. She earned W&M some clutch victories, and she was the 4th seeded B-strip from her pool and the 11th seeded B-strip across all pools. Julianne came in hot to CFCs, having just fenced at SIFA Champs the previous weekend, and scored a decisive 5-2 victory over Liberty on Saturday. She continued fighting hard on Sunday, getting some great wins over fencers from UT Knoxville and Denison.
CFCs ended on a high note and was a great testament to all the work the squad put in this year. Women’s foil has no graduating seniors this spring, and so they are all looking forward to next semester, where they will continue to fence and grow together.

Saber
Men’s saber had a remarkably average start to CFCs. Daniel “Maverick” Bachman ’20, Robert “Triton” Catlett ’18, and Steven “Zaqqum” Pressendo ’20 each went 6-6, each had a total indicator between 0 and 5, and placed 19th of 38 teams going into day two. The second day went much better, with each fencer getting a chance to put the squad on their back. After a narrow loss to Tennessee, the team went on a tear. Our squad rolled over Rochester and our friends from TCNJ, winning both matches 5-1. Next, our squad ran into a strong Boston University team. Zaqqum’s quick ripostes brought the team an early lead. After several tight bouts, our team found ourselves tied with BU 4-4 and Maverick heading up for the final bout. His surprising remises won the first few points, before the BU fencer brought the bout score to 4 all. In front of the gathering crowd, Maverick pulled his opponent short, clinching the school for our squad. In the final bout of his collegiate career, Triton faced the strong UMass A-strip who individually finished in 8th place the day before. Triton fell behind early but adjusted his box footwork to bring the bout score to 4 all. Triton took a risk by committing to his attack very early in the touch, winning the bout, and securing a team victory over UMass. After months of hard work, the men’s saber squad finished the season on a four-match winning streak.

Women’s sabre put on a strong show at CFCs. Madeline “Mercury” Myers ’20 confused opponents on defense, baiting them into attacking on her terms. Riley “Serenitea” Aiken ’20 used her quick, skillful circle parries to punish her opponents for falling short. Mary “Prim” McCants ’21 perfected her disengages, neatly avoiding her opponents’ parries. The squad really bonded over the long weekend, finishing out the season in good spirits.