Fencing Opens Season with Home Meet
This week the ICJA fencing team welcomed New Trier for the first fencing home meet of the season. For the first time, the Aces hosted a tournament in all three weapons: Foil, Epee, and Saber. Avi Goldshmidt, Shimon Stein, team captain Yishai Campbell and Max Brasch made up the men’s foil squad. This was Goldshmidt’s first meet against a strong New Trier team, but he fought hard scoring several touches against each opponent, including a 4-5 loss against Trevian Liam Guthrie. Stein, Campbell and Brasch each had 3 wins and 1 loss, defeating New Trier 9 to 7.
The women’s foil squad of captain Dena Lebowitz, Chaya Feige Friedman, and Tova Hope-Liel suffered a close loss against the New Trier women. Lebowitz and Hope-Liel each won 2 and lost 1 close bout (both losing 4-5) against their opponents. Their combined four wins were not enough to pull a victory for the Aces women’s foil squad. They lost 4-5.
The epee squads also had a successful meet. The novice women’s epee team was made up of squad leader Nechama Goldstein, Chani Shapiro, Tziona Chernoff, and Nava Wolgel. The big surprise of the meet was freshman Chernoff who dominated the encounter. She had three solid wins and a close 4-5 defeat. Wolgel also impressed with two victories and a tight 4-5 defeat. Shapiro came out with a victory and three close losses, and senior Goldstein lost three 4-5 bouts. The final score for this encounter was a 10 – 6 New Trier victory.
The men’s epee squad led by team manager Josh Polster, squad leader Zachary Rubin, Sam Shoshani and Ezra Schur dominated their encounter. Rubin was the only undefeated Aces fencer of the meet. Polster finished with a dominating 3-1 record, Shoshani finished 2-2, and Schur went 1-3 with one 4-5 defeat. The men’s epee squad finished with a 10-6 victory over New Trier.
The women’s saber squad struggled against a fast New Trier team. Squad leader Brocha Shanes came out with a 2-2 record, including a 4-5 loss. Masha Matten won her first bout 5-1, struggled to a 4-5 loss in her second bout, and ended with a 1-3 record. Sarah Quintas and Gail Schneiderman both fenced hard and had a strong showing, but weren’t able to clinch the wins.
Overall, coaches Price and Ruben are very proud of the team. The experienced athletes are fencing with confidence and dominating their bouts. The newer fencers are already competing like veterans. The team is gelling and the fencers keep pushing each other to get better and better. The technical skills are there, but this meet has shown us that we need to work on the mental toughness to get over those 4-4 bouts to secure the wins. New Trier will be hosting ICJA in January.