Tar Heel Fencers Off To Fast Start

Saturday, November 2

Philadelphia, Pa.

8:00 AM

North Carolina

Temple Open (Women)

The Tar Heel foil competitors at Saturday's Temple Open.

November 2, 2019 | Fencing

Results

By: UNC Athletic Communications

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – Two Tar Heel freshmen earned bronze medals as UNC opened the 2019-20 fencing season Saturday at the Temple Open. The women's team competed on Saturday and the men's team will fence on Sunday.

First-year Tar Heel Sophia Mandour tied for third in women's foil and classmate Abigale Parker tied for third in women's sabre. Two sophomores earned top-10 finishes, with Aubrey Molloy seventh in foil and Clara Somfelean eighth in sabre.

"Overall I was super happy with the team," UNC coach Matt Jednak said. "We saw improvement throughout the day. The idea in this tournament is to shake off some early-season nerves and they were able to work through that."

For UNC, the focus for this weekend is gaining experience for the freshmen and sophomores. Some of the team's senior leaders – such as foil fencer Carlexa Fevry, who tied for 12^th – also competed, and others led from the sidelines, helping the younger Tar Heels excel in their first collegiate competition.

"It's all about acclimating to the college fencing scene and allowing the leaders to practice leadership skills," Jednak said. "I'm extremely pleased. If this is our starting point for the year, we've got nothing but great things to come."

TEMPLE OPEN – Women's Competition
Nov. 2 in Philadelphia, Pa.

Foil (field of 72)
T3. Sophia Mandour
7. Aubrey Molloy
T12. Carlexa Fevry
T22. Sarah Followill
38. Sylvia Zhu

Epee (field of 81)
T13. Darby Haskell
21. Charlotte Summers
43. Claire Harmon

Sabre (field of 67)
T3. Abigale Parker
8. Clara Somfelean
15. Julia Parzecki
24. Alexis Lynch
26. Bridget Becchina
57. MaryBeth Thomas (won silver in consolation draw)