Fantastic fencers finish first

University of York Men’s 1sts 135 – 73 Newcastle University Men’s 2nds

University of York Men’s 2nds 80 – 135 University of Durham Men’s 2nds

Loughborough University Women’s 1sts 94 – 133 University of York Women’s 1sts

With the end of the fencing season coming to a close, all three teams had crucial matches yesterday with both men’s teams fencing at home. The men’s 1sts were fencing Newcastle 2nds again (they fenced them last week in their BUCS cup semi finals), the men’s 2nds were fencing Durham 2nds and the women’s team travelled to Loughborough to fence another round in their premier promotion league.

The women’s team, despite being the apparent underdogs against the Loughborough team (not that any of the York team would agree with that statement), gained an easy victory. After gaining an initial 14 point lead in the sabre, the York team proceeded to win foil by another 5 points, and epee by 20, leaving the York team with a 133 – 94 win. This means that the team will be playing Newcastle in a home match next week, the winner of which will be promoted.

In the home matches the men’s 1sts team faired equally well. After a successful season with only one loss (by just two points) and a match in a few weeks (24th March) that could result in the team winning the BUCS conference cup, the team needed to make sure that they weren’t complacent following last week's win against the same team.

Epee was the weapon up first and Phil Sellars made an excellent start taking the lead 5-0. This fantastic lead was continued with some fantastic fencing from Harry Whitwell and Mike Denniss. York stayed ahead for the entire match with a particularly fantastic performance from Denniss in the penultimate fight giving a lead of 40-13. Sellars finished off York’s performance giving Newcastle only 1 point to finish Epee on a score of 45-14.

Next up was Sabre, and Tom Jones took another convincing lead for York with a score of 5-1 against Newcastle’s James Kinnear. Newcastle then subbed on Chris McAleer to replace Kinnear. Harry Whitwell fenced the second fight to extend the lead to 10-6. The next fight was fought by Joe Horgan who maintained York’s lead though Newcastle gained 6 points in a tough fight. This put the score at 15-10. Whitwell regained 5 points in York’s favour whilst conceding only one point to extend the lead over Newcastle to 20-11. Tom Jones fenced the next fight in which York continued to sail ahead to finish with a core of 25-12. Whitwell took York’s score to 35-22 after tough fights for Horgan and Whitwell. The final 2 fights kept York in the lead with Horgan and Jones conceding 3 points between to give a final score of 45-26. Hence an overall lead of 90-40 already ensuring York’s victory.

The final weapon to be fenced was Foil, beginning with Whitwell taking a lead of 5. James Quelch then fought a tough bout but managed to maintain the lead for York with a score of 10-8. The third fight was incredibly tough for Tom Skingle, and Newcastle nudged slightly ahead to give a score of 14-15 against York. Quelch then regained the lead to 20-17 for York. The final fights saw York keep the lead and finish the foil on a score of 45-33.

After last week... could there be any other result
Captain Harry Whitwell

The overall match finished at a score of 135-73 which will put the men’s 1st team joint top of their league and on the way to hopefully gaining a promotion back into the 1A league. Captain Harry Whitwell was delighted with his team and their “solid performance all round” and said “after last week...could there be any other result...”

Unfortunately for the other home it was not such a successful day. The men’s 2nds lost in a tough match against Durham 2nds with a score of 135-80.

Add Comment

You must log in to submit a comment.