Female fencers fail to foil Oxford

Having won the north eastern women’s league last term, the female fencing team joined the top 16 teams throughout the country fencing to try and make the finals in Sheffield. The York team made their way down to fence the premier league team at Oxford. While the girls fenced their hearts out, they unfortunately failed to beat the southern team.

After a long train journey the team arrived at Oxford early enough to see their team warming up and having last minute lessons with their coach, and the two men’s team begin to thoroughly beat their respective opposition teams of Exeter 1sts and East Anglia 1sts.

The match started with epee; this season consistently York’s strongest weapon, with all the epee team members competing consistently in national competitions. York started off well, consistently staying in the lead throughout the nine matches, although not gaining the lead that the team had hoped, finishing only seven points in the lead at 45 – 38.

Sabre was the next weapon up. Informed that the Oxford team had this year acquired a ‘crazy Italian sabreur’ by members of teams that had already faced them this year, the York team began feeling the pressure early on in the second weapon. Captain Kat Chzhen started off well, gaining four points off said Italian, but after that point the team struggled to keep even with the Oxford team, finishing twenty three points behind at 22 – 45.

Although a win was still technically possible as the girls began the final weapon, foil, the team had more or less given up hope, fencing disappointingly against a team decked out in GBR stripes. The Oxford team kept racking up the points, until with over a fifteen point lead Katherine Gracey and Louise Highton suddenly began to fight back, using stop hits to gain hits over shorter opponents. However their valiant efforts weren’t enough to gain the advantage the York team needed, and the final weapon finished with a 32 - 45 lead to Oxford.

Oxford finished winning 128 – 99, a disappointing although somewhat predictable win to the premier league team, and reflective of the pattern across the cup matches of the premier teams winning easily against the winning non premier opponents.

However the York men’s 1st team did succeed in their match against Durham 2nds, bringing them to the semi finals, and facing in their next match Newcastle 2nds – the team which knocked out York’s 2nds team from the cup a few weeks ago.

Team Sheet:

Epee: Louise Highton, Katherine Gracey and Rebecca Ellis.

Sabre: Katherine Gracey, Kat Chzhen and Rebecca Ellis.

Foil: Katherine Gracey, Louise Highton and Rebecca Ellis.

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