Liverpool ladies lose to York's female fencers

University of York Women's 1sts 120 - 109 University of Liverpool Women's 1sts.

Last weekend several of the women’s team members ventured across the country to the Merseyside Opens. With some very successful results (Louise Highton came in 1st, and Katherine Gracey finished 6th) and a very good season (only loosing in the cup play of to Oxford so far), the team was remaining optimistic about their chances against Liverpool, winners of the North Western league.

Sabre was the first weapon and initially York struggled to gain points. In the 3rd fight however, Gracey fenced well enabling York to recover slightly. But unfortunately it appeared not to be York’s day for sabre. For several fights the score difference remained the same as both sides fought fiercely. Liverpool wanted to keep their significant lead and York was desperately trying to close the gap. So after some wonderfully competitive fencing Liverpool took the victory in sabre to lead the match by 45-30.

With 2 weapons remaining, both teams still had much to play for. Foil was up next with Rebecca Ellis taking Kate Horner’s place on the team due to injury. Gracey made an excellent start in the first fight; but Liverpool nudged ahead by 1 point in the fight fought by Ellis to give a score of 10-9 against York. Highton fenced a fierce fight to prevent Liverpool gaining a significant lead and in the 4th fight Ellis gained 6 points for York while only conceding 1. This put the score at 20-16 to York and after this some excellent fencing from Gracey and Highton left Liverpool struggling to break through York’s defence. The final score for foil was a definitive victory for York with a score of 45 – 28.

With overall scores of 75 – 73 to York after the first two weapons, epee was left as the deciding weapon. Highton made a convincing start winning the first 5 points whilst giving Liverpool only 1. At the end of the 2nd fight, which timed out to the maximum three minutes, the score was 9-9 leaving the atmosphere rather tense. It was after these points however, that York took a convincing lead that was maintained for the rest of the match. There were some tense moments when Liverpool gained successive points to narrow York’s lead slightly, but Highton fenced brilliantly to finish the final fight with a score of 6-2 and an overall epee score of 45-36.

The final match score was 120-109 for York and this means that they are now one step closer to a premiership promotion, with another two potential remaining matches. It was also a successful day for the Men’s first team who won their match against Newcastle 135 – 100; although the success was not shared with the Men’s seconds team who yet again failed to win another match, losing to Hull 135-41.

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