Tar Heels Learn And Improve At Elite Invitational

Saturday, November 21

Philadelphia, Pa.

All Day

North Carolina

Elite Invitational

November 25, 2015 | Fencing

By: UNC Athletic Communications

A recent Saturday of competition at the Elite Invitational brought cheers and challenges for the UNC men's and women's fencing teams. The Tar Heels fenced their first dual meets of the season on Nov. 21, facing five opponents in a very tough field at the University of Pennsylvania's Micahnik Fencing Center.

“The women fenced at or above expectations for this point in the season,” UNC coach Ron Miller said. “The men were frustrated by a combination of injuries and inexperience. But it was a great learning weekend for us and I felt like they made good progress and fenced well as a team. They didn't fall apart under pressure.”

On the day, the UNC women went 2-3, with wins over Johns Hopkins and Air Force. The UNC men went 1-4 with the victory an exciting comeback against Air Force. Also in the field were top-10 teams Ohio State, Princeton and Columbia, the defending NCAA Champion.

With many freshmen in the mix for UNC this year, Miller led his team into the day knowing it would be a learning experience, especially for those competing in their first collegiate dual meet. “It takes a little while to get into the ebb and flow of five meets in one day,” Miller said. “It's not an incredible number of bouts, but it's an incredible amount of up-and-down pressure and changes in momentum. Some of the freshmen did phenomenal, some had their issues. Everyone learned from the day.”

On the women's side, the top sabre performances came from Diana Philpot (9-4) and Sarah Hanvy (8-6).

In women's foil, Gabrielle D'Astoli was 8-5 and the other two starters, Amanda Lalezarian and Sydney Persing were both 6-9. “That's a very solid result because the women's foil fields were all very strong,” Miller said.

In women's epee, sophomore Samantha Galina led UNC with a 7-6 record.

On the men's side, epee was the strongest weapon, and also the one that led UNC to the 14-13 comeback win over Air Force. Matt Schlimak and Jason Xu were 6-7 on the day and Michael Slonin-Gopman was 5-9. “All three were instrumental in the win against Air Force,” Miller said. “We were down 11-13 and had to win out, and they did.”

Foil struggled with two starters sustaining concussions during the day. (Another was later diagnosed with a concussion.) Ultimately, a sabre fencer, Griffin Morehead, had to switch over and fence foil to give UNC enough athletes to compete.

At this early point of the season, Miller is optimistic about the outcome. “I think it was a good result for us,” he said. “Based on what we'd done going in I think we're disappointed, but in terms of where we should be at this point in the season we're OK.”

Elite Invitational

Nov. 21, 2015

UNC vs. Ohio State

Men

OSU 25, UNC 2

Foil: OSU 9-0

Epee: OSU 7-2

Sabre: OSU 9-0

Women

OSU 17, UNC 10

Foil: OSU 8-1

Epee: OSU 7-2