North Haven Fencing Teams Work Hard and Look Ahead to States

North Haven girls and boys fencing Coach Pete Solomon says that both of his teams this season are young, but are showing improvement as the year progresses. The goal is to qualify for the team state championships during the first week of March.

The top 3 fencers in each weapon (epee and foil) compete at meets. Epee is a heavier sword than foil and has a triangular blade. Foil is a light and flexible dueling sword and has a rectangular blade. The team with the lowest score wins the meet. Fencers are classified as novice (no prior experience), junior varsity and varsity. Most fencers enter North Haven High School in the first category. Currently the fencing team is comprised of 36 members (19 girls, 17 boys).

Next Saturday the squad will host a large junior varsity tournament with approximately 160 participants at the Fred Kelly Gymnasium at NHHS.

The varsity squads will then face North Branford on Monday January 24^th.

The girls foil captain is senior Amanda Genovese, who has a 7-1 record. Her only loss this season was to a competitor from Fairfield. Amanda (who is also the starting pitcher on the NHHS softball team) finished fourth in the state last year, and the North Haven foil squad finished third.  The girls foil squad currently have a 1-2 record.

Anita Li is a senior captain of epee and sports a 6-3 mark. Both captains are the team's most experienced fencers, and the only 2 returning starters in the lineup of 3 foils and 3 epees. Li finished in the top eight in the State last season. The epees have a 1-2 overall mark.

“We have a big pool of underclassmen in their first starting role,” Solomon said. “As we gain more experience the girls are getting hungry and starting to set their sights real high.”

Amelia Hoyt, a sophomore foil, has already earned a varsity spot. The foils finished third last year at States.

Last year the epee squad won the state championship and hopes to get another shot in 2011.

“With Amanda leading the way, it could happen. We need to fill in the 2 and 3 spots  and follow Amanda’s lead,” Solomon said.”We are looking for the younger kids to start getting into line as the last pieces. We are not a state championship team now but could be in March.”

The boys team is even younger, with no seniors. Andrew Fitzgerald is a junior captain and a foil fencer. The foils currently own a 1-2 record.

“He has been great,” Solomon said. “He has stepped into the role and gets the wins we need. He is a 3-year fencer.”

Solomon added, “The guys team has a lot of potential. Every week we get a little better and become more competitive. At the end of the season we might be there to compete for a chance at a state championship. The boys are working hard to get to the next level to make a play at one of the (state tournament) spots.”

Sophomore David King and Li Sun have penciled themselves into the 2^nd and 3^rd foil positions.

“They both worked real hard all summer. They had the opportunity to become varsity fencers right away. We can’t be satisfied this year just getting a starting role. We are growing up immensely as fencers and leaders.”

In epee Paul Masi is a junior and the #1 epee boy. He is the only fencer coming back with epee experience and currently has a 6-2 mark. Boys that have improved this year in epee include Victor Wang and Tyler Fung. The boys epee has a 2-1 mark.

“Victor and Tyler have really stepped it up and have only started epee this year,” Solomon said.

“Our goal is to get better every week,” Solomon said.  “We want to be able to compete for championships at the state championships. We have the hunger and the work ethic. This is the season of growth to pull it all together. No boys are going to graduate after this season so we are looking to get a lot better this season. We could be competing for the top 3 spots at States.”

Top fencing teams to look out for include Guilford, Hopkins, Fairfield, Old Lyme and Bacon Academy of Colchester, which has a strong boys team.

“The regular season does not impact the state championships,” Solomon said. “You have all season to get to your best. A rough start does not hurt you.”

Members of each team compete as individuals. The participants are ranked the week before heading to States in early March.  The teams compete in individual championships the week before States and the top 8 get All State honors. The team with the lowest point total is seeded first at states. The seeding is determined by adding together the points of all 3 team members.  All places up to 8^th place will be fought for.