Fencing competing in first dual meets of the season

On Saturday and Sunday, Columbia’s men’s and women’s fencing programs will take on the top programs in the country at the St. John’s Super Cup and the NYU Duals. These two tournaments mark the beginning of collegiate play for the Lions, as well as the beginning of a new coaching era.

Michael Aufrichtig, current chairman of the New York Athletic Club Fencing program, was announced as the new head coach of the men’s and women’s fencing programs in late June 2011. Aufrichtig replaced legendary coach George Kolombatovich, who led the program for 33 years.

Aufrichtig inherits a young but extremely talented group of fencers. Last year’s team included 16 first-year fencers and only one senior on the women’s side.

The men’s squad was plagued by lack of depth throughout a season in which they finished with a disappointing record of 2-18 and placed last at Ivy League Championships. While the women started off slowly, they finished strong, completing the season at 10-9, including a second-place finish at Ivies for the third straight year.

The Lions’ 2012 cause will be greatly aided by the incoming recruiting class which includes 10 talented fencers. These fencers are expected to add depth and provide competition for the starters immediately. For example, freshmen Will Spear and Michael Josephs finished in first and seventh, respectively, in junior men’s sabre at this past weekend’s North America Cup in Portland, Ore..

“I am extremely, extremely happy [with this year’s class]” Aufrichtig said. “We are already bringing in two individuals that have been competing at the junior world level. At the last two North American Cups, some of our recruits are actually finishing higher than some of our starters. That’s always a really good sign. People understand that our mission here is winning NCAA and Ivy League Championships.”

“I think the depth issue has been addressed and it will be more addressed next season even further,” Aufrichtig said. “Pending no injuries, we should be fine.”

Both players and coaches expect the team to improve upon last year’s performance. Aufrichtig believes his fencers have a great opportunity to win at Ivy League Championships and climb the ladder at nationals.

“For sure, we want to do a lot better than we did last year,” Aufrichtig said. “With regards to nationals, we’ll be able to accomplish seventh or better this year.”

“We have got to win Ivies” said junior epeeist Lydia Kopecky, who finished seventh at NCAA’s last season. “For three years we have been a bout or two away from winning, which is very frustrating. My expectation for this team at the very minimum is to win Ivies. I also think we will field a much greater number of fencers at NCAA’s this year.”

Kopecky contends that the team’s greatest difficulty will be continuing to make up for its lack of experience with grit and heart.

“We are a young team” Kopecky said. “I know people say this all the time but we really are so the experience isn’t there. We don’t have tons of seniors and juniors to pull up the younger kids. The most important thing is to make fighters out of all of us.”

The team captains for this season will include Kopecky, senior sabreist Sammy Roberts, junior foilist D’Meca Homer, senior epeeist Sean Leahy, and senior sabresit Billy Fink.

The Light Blue hopes to get off to a better start than last season when they travel to Jamaica, Queens on Saturday to compete against Penn State, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Harvard, and host St. John’s. On Sunday, the Lions will travel downtown to take on Ohio State, Notre Dame, St. John’s, North Carolina, and Wayne State at NYU.

At last season’s NCAA Championships, Notre Dame finished first, Penn State second, St. John’s third, Ohio State fifth, and Harvard sixth. Columbia, represented by nine fencers, finished in seventh place overall.

Due to the high level of competition they will face, this weekend’s tournaments will be a telling barometer of how far both the men’s and women’s teams have come since last season.

“The schools we are fencing on Saturday will probably be five of the top six this year as well” said Aufrichtig. “Fencing them right off is going to tell us what our competition will be when we make it to the NCAA’s in March. Our goal is to go out there, give it all we got, and welcome them to a new Columbia fencing team.”

Competition will begin on Saturday at 10 a.m. in St. John’s Carnesecca Arena and on Sunday at 8 a.m. at NYU’s Jerome S. Cole sports-0">Sports Center.