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October North American Cup
Kovacs Wins Silver At October North American Cup
October 11, 2022 | Fencing
Minneapolis, Minn. - Junior Sophia Kovacs took home the silver medal in Division One Women's Sabre at the October North American Cup this past weekend in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Kovacs rose to the top of a field of 144 sabre fencers from around the globe.
The field contained some of the best sabre fencers in the country, including the two finalists in the 2022 Women's Sabre NCAA Championships, Harvard's Elizabeth Tartakovsky and Notre Dame's Atara Greenbaum. Kovacs outperformed both and finished as the highest-placing NCAA fencer in the field.
Kovacs started the weekend with five wins out of six bouts to win her pool. From there, Kovacs won five straight elimination bouts to send her to the championship match where she ultimately came up just one point short of gold, falling 15-14 to Siobhan Sullivan.
Kovacs credits the success to her mentality and her ability to fence without added pressure.
"I didn't have a lot of pressure on me this weekend. The coaches were able to take all the pressure off so I could just go out there and have fun," explained Kovacs.
Kovacs composure was able to lead her to victory in the later elimination rounds, including a remarkable comeback in the quarterfinals. Trailing 8-3 at the break, Kovacs came out of the intermission and flipped the match on its head by scoring 12 unanswered points to advance into the semifinals with a 15-8 victory.
"The lack of pressure that she previously felt was gone, which allowed her to be free and continue to believe in herself long into the day," added UNC head coach Matt Jednak.
Sophia's silver medal is her best finish at a North American Cup, but this weekend's result hardly came as a surprise to her or Jednak because of all the work the team has put in this off-season.
"This shows that if you believe you can do it, then you can," said Kovacs. All of us have put so much effort into training and just pouring ourselves into getting better. Competition is the time to have confidence in the amount of training we have been doing. If you present yourself with confidence and believe that you can win, then there is nothing holding you back.
"This result just reaffirms that the work we are putting in is leading us to good places. We have the skill, the confidence, and the ability to attain our goals and to finish an event strong," said Jednak.
Kovacs and the rest of the Tar Heels will have two weekends off before returning to action at the Temple Open on October 29.
The field contained some of the best sabre fencers in the country, including the two finalists in the 2022 Women's Sabre NCAA Championships, Harvard's Elizabeth Tartakovsky and Notre Dame's Atara Greenbaum. Kovacs outperformed both and finished as the highest-placing NCAA fencer in the field.
Kovacs started the weekend with five wins out of six bouts to win her pool. From there, Kovacs won five straight elimination bouts to send her to the championship match where she ultimately came up just one point short of gold, falling 15-14 to Siobhan Sullivan.
Kovacs credits the success to her mentality and her ability to fence without added pressure.
"I didn't have a lot of pressure on me this weekend. The coaches were able to take all the pressure off so I could just go out there and have fun," explained Kovacs.
Kovacs composure was able to lead her to victory in the later elimination rounds, including a remarkable comeback in the quarterfinals. Trailing 8-3 at the break, Kovacs came out of the intermission and flipped the match on its head by scoring 12 unanswered points to advance into the semifinals with a 15-8 victory.
"The lack of pressure that she previously felt was gone, which allowed her to be free and continue to believe in herself long into the day," added UNC head coach Matt Jednak.
Sophia's silver medal is her best finish at a North American Cup, but this weekend's result hardly came as a surprise to her or Jednak because of all the work the team has put in this off-season.
"This shows that if you believe you can do it, then you can," said Kovacs. All of us have put so much effort into training and just pouring ourselves into getting better. Competition is the time to have confidence in the amount of training we have been doing. If you present yourself with confidence and believe that you can win, then there is nothing holding you back.
"This result just reaffirms that the work we are putting in is leading us to good places. We have the skill, the confidence, and the ability to attain our goals and to finish an event strong," said Jednak.
Kovacs and the rest of the Tar Heels will have two weekends off before returning to action at the Temple Open on October 29.
Players Mentioned
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