University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
OSU Invitational
Tar Heels Find Good And Bad In Dual Meets At Ohio State
November 18, 2014 | Fencing
The North Carolina fencing team didn't earn any team victories in the season's first dual meets Sunday at the OSU Elite Invitational, but that doesn't mean the takeaway was all bad.
“This competition was both good and bad for us,” UNC coach Ron Miller said. “Bad in the sense that we had no overall team victories. However the level of competition was exceedingly high.”
Against that tough competition, which included Notre Dame, Princeton, Penn and Penn State in addition to the host Buckeyes, the Tar Heels were without many of the women's team starters due to illness and academic conflicts. “For instance, last year's entire starting women's sabre team could not attend, other than Sarah Hanvy, who fenced epee for us,” Miller said. “She fences both so we moved her to epee for this competition because we only had two epeeists who could travel. We were scrambling to fill weapon squads.
“Yet, the results were very encouraging and this is the good side. The women's squad actually won more individual matches than the men, although the level of competition was probably a little higher on the men's side.”
The Tar Heels did pick up small wins along the way. “Men's and women's sabre both fenced well,” Miller said. “The men won 15 bouts, the highest on the team.”
The Tar Heel men had two squad victories, sabre against Penn and epee against Penn State, the defending NCAA champion. Miller expects those to have an impact on the team's confidence, even as he spots other areas in which Carolina must improve. “The biggest concern for me was that that the men's team went 1-13 in 5-4 bouts in the morning,” he said. “In the afternoon, they improved to 5-7 and on the day 6-20. That's where our biggest improvement is going to have to be, winning those bouts that are close. That made a huge difference.”
On the women's side, UNC's best results were against Ohio State and Penn State. “We feel like any time against these schools this early in the season we can win eight, nine or 10 victories, we're doing well,” he said. “We did and I was pleased with that. The women didn't have as many 5-4 bouts but did better, 3-9 in the morning and 4-6 in the afternoon. “
Top Tar Heel performers were freshmen Noa Allen and Diana Philpot in sabre, sophomores Amanda Lalezarian and Gabrielle D'Astoli in foil, and freshman Samantha Galina and sophomore Sarah Hanvy in epee.
On the men's side, top performers were junior Harry Adams in foil, sophomores Mason Erb and Evan Philpot in sabre, and Michael Gopman Slonim and Matt Shlimak in epee.
“You can see that our youth actually had a good day,” Miller said. “I was very encouraged by our young fencers and their ability to improve and fence better in the afternoon.”
The Tar Heels are back in action this weekend, fencing against a tough field in the Penn State Intercollegiate Open. The women's team will compete on Saturday and the men's team on Sunday.
OSU Elite Invitational
Columbus, Ohio
Nov. 16, 2014
Round 1
Men: Ohio State 22, UNC 5
Sabre: OSU 6-3
Foil: OSU 9-0
Epee: OSU 7-2
Women: Ohio State 19, UNC 8
Sabre: OSU 6-3
Foil: OSU 8-1
Epee: OSU 5-4
Round 2
Men: Notre Dame 24, UNC 3
Sabre: ND 6-3
Foil: ND 9-0
Epee: ND 9-0
Women: Notre Dame 24, UNC 3
Sabre: ND 7-2
Foil: ND 9-0
Epee: ND 3-1
Round 3
Men: Penn 24, UNC 3
Sabre: Penn 9-0
Foil: Penn 8-1
Epee: Penn 7-2
Women: Penn 18, UNC 9
Sabre: UNC 5-4
Foil: Penn 7-2
Epee: Penn 7-2
Round 4
Men: Princeton 16, UNC 11
Sabre: UNC 6-3
Foil: Princeton 7-2
Epee: Princeton 6-3
Women: Princeton 24, UNC 3
Sabre: PU 7-2
Foil: PU 8-1
Epee: PU 9-0
Round 5
Men: Penn State 20, UNC 7
Sabre: PSU 8-1
Foil: PSU 9-0
Epee: UNC 6-3
Women: Penn State 17, UNC 10
Sabre: PSU 6-3
Foil: PSU 7-2
Epee: UNC 5-4
Players Mentioned
