North Carolina
Temple Duals
Fencers Shine At Philadelphia Invitational
January 22, 2023 | Fencing
PHILADELPHIA- The North Carolina fencing team traveled to Philadelphia this weekend for a doubleheader, fencing at Temple on Friday and at Penn on Sunday. Both the men and women excelled this weekend, going 11-4 in all competitions.
The men started off the weekend with some tough competition, losing a close one to No. 5 Princeton 15-12. After Princeton, the Tar Heels were able to get on the right side of some close victories. The men defeated Johns Hopkins 15-12 and the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) 16-11 to close out the day.
The women were dominant in round one on Friday, defeating NJIT, 18-9. In round two the Heels came up against the tenth-ranked hosts, Temple. Temple took the dual in a close one, winning 15-12. The Heels got back to winning ways in the final round, beating Johns Hopkins 16-11.
According to head coach Matt Jednak, the team is having success by helping each other succeed. "It is a huge positive when you have teammates as the ones up on the sidelines being coaches," said Jednak. "They are talking, they are giving ideas, giving feedback and support. They are standing up and being vocal. It's really cool to watch, and it's happening across weapons and across gender."
On Saturday, Carolina traveled across Philly to the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). The men's team started off on fire, taking down Sacred Heart 18-9 and Haverford 22-5. The hot streak came to an end in round three, where the men fell 20-7 to No. 10 NYU. In their final round, the Heels were able to leave Philadelphia with a thunderous win, beating Lafayette, 24-3.
Apart from a loss to NYU in round three, the women won big in all of their duals on Saturday. The first two rounds saw the Heels post identical 24-3 score lines against Sacred Heart and Haverford. Round four saw another big win, this time a 21-6 victory over Lafayette. In the final round, the women were able to do something the Carolina fencing team hasn't done in a while and defeated Fairleigh Dickinson 27-0.
"Farleigh Dickerson was missing a couple of people, but still, our team stayed focused, and they did their job. I don't think I've had a 27-0 win yet since I've been here," said Jednak.
Many Tar Heels shined this weekend with impressive records. On the women's side, Sophia Mandour and Sophia Kovacs led the team with over ten wins each. Mandour finished the weekend with an 11-1 record, dropping only one bout in a loss to Temple. Sophia Kovacs led all Tar Heels with 13 wins and only two losses.
On the men's side, Eli Lippman led the Heels with a record of 9-1. Eli started off the weekend strong, going 2-1 against No. 5 Princeton. From there Lippman was 3-0 against NJIT and Haverford, and 1-0 against NYU.
"Eli is dialed in. It's that simple. His focus is there. He still lapses back into some habitual things, but overall, he's getting better and better. He is in really good shape, and I think he is hungry to do well," said Jednak.
The Tar Heels will have a few weeks off before they return to competition at the Tar Heel Invitational on February 12th.
Results
Friday
Round One Men
UNC vs #5 Princeton
Sabre: 5-4 Princeton
Foil: 5-4 Princeton
Epee: 5-4 Princeton
Final: 15-12 Princeton
Round One Women
#14 UNC vs NJIT
Sabre: 7-2 UNC
Foil: 8-1 UNC
Epee: 6-3 NJIT
𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥: 18-9 UNC
𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐌𝐞𝐧
UNC vs Johns Hopkins
Sabre: 5-4 JHU
Foil: 5-4 UNC
Epee: 6-3 UNC
𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥: 15-12 UNC
𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧
#14 UNC vs #11 Temple
Sabre: 5-4 UNC
Foil: 5-4 Temple
Epee: 6-3 UNC
𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥: 15-12 Temple
𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐌𝐞𝐧
UNC vs NJIT
Sabre: 8-1
Foil: 7-2 NJIT
Epee: 6-3 UNC
𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥: 16-11 UNC
𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧
#14 UNC vs Johns Hopkins
Sabre: 6-3 UNC
Foil: 5-4 JHU
Epee: 6-3 UNC
𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥: 16-11 UNC
Saturday
𝗥𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗠𝗲𝗻
UNC vs Sacred Heart
Sabre: 5-4 UNC
Foil: 7-2 UNC
Epee: 6-3 UNC
𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹: 18-9 UNC
𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧
#14 UNC vs Sacred Heart
Sabre: 8-1 UNC
Foil: 9-0 UNC
Epee: 6-3 UNC
𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥: 23-4 UNC
𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐌𝐞𝐧
UNC vs Haverford
Sabre: 9-0 UNC
Foil: 5-4 UNC
Epee: 8-1 UNC
𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥: 22-5 UNC
𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧
#14 UNC vs Haverford
Sabre: 8-1 UNC
Foil: 8-1 UNC
Epee: 7-2 UNC
𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥: 23-4 UNC
𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐌𝐞𝐧
UNC vs #10 NYU
Sabre: 7-2 NYU
Foil: 8-1 NYU
Epee: 5-4 NYU
𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥: 20-7 NYU
𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧
#14 UNC vs NYU
Sabre: 5-4 UNC
Foil: 6-3 UNC
Epee: 7-2 NYU
𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥: 14-13 NYU
𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐌𝐞𝐧
UNC vs Lafayette
Sabre: 8-1 UNC
Foil: 7-2 UNC
Epee: 9-0 UNC
𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥: 24-3
𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧
#14 UNC vs Lafayette
Sabre: 7-2 UNC
Foil: 7-2 UNC
Epee: 7-2 UNC
𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥: 21-6 UNC
Round Five Men
BYE
𝗥𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗙𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻
#14 UNC vs FDU
Sabre: 9-0 UNC
Foil: 9-0 UNC
Epee: 9-0 UNC
𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹: 27-0 UNC
