11/14/2009 8:27:13 PM
Seeing their first action of the 2009-10 season against a tough field at the Stanford Duals on Saturday, the University of Detroit Mercy men’s and women’s fencing squads put forward strong efforts.
Both teams began each dual match trailing, 9-0, since neither team competed with an epee squad.
The women’s team opened with a dual against CalTech and started off on the right foot, scoring a 15-12 victory, and holding a 15-3 advantage in bouts that were actually fenced. Led by senior Ashley Colbert (Washington, MI/Romeo) and sophomore Megan McMahon (Macomb, MI/Dakota), the Titans foil squad dropped just one bout against CalTech, while the foil squad led by senior Ashlee McLemore (Detroit, MI/Dominican) dropped two.
“I’m happy about the result we got against CalTech,” commented head coach Todd Dressell. “We started off down but we did very good in the bouts that we did fence.”
Detroit’s next three matches, against Northwestern, San Diego and Stanford did not go as well.
“Those are three very good programs, and they have a lot o fencers who have a lot more experience than we have,” Dressell said. “I think we should have won a few more bouts than we did, but everyone on our team worked very hard and made their opponents work hard. When anyone on the other team made a mistake we were getting touches.”
The Titans fell 27-0 to Northwestern, 28-2 against San Diego and 24-3 against Stanford. McLemore and sophomore Samantha LaFrance (Macomb, MI/Dakota) in the sabre recorded UDM’s victories against San Diego, and the sabre squad also accounted for all three wins in the Stanford dual, including a 5-0 win by sophomore Allison Diven (Lake Orion, MI/Lake Orion).
McLemore compiled a 5-6 record overall on the day, the best among Detroit’s women’s squad.
Starting each match in an even bigger hole than the women due to having just four fencers competing, the Titan’s men’s team was unable to record a dual match win on the day. They began with a 23-3 loss to Stanford, followed by a 24-3 loss to San Diego and ended on the short end of a narrow 14-12 decision against CalTech.
The foil squad of senior Brad Coon (Jenison, MI/Hudsonville) and sophomore Michael Purdy-Sachs (Port Huron, MI/Home School), recorded all of the Titans victories against Stanford and two of three against San Diego. Detroit’s third victory against San Diego came from junior Tom Lorenzo (Avon, OH/St. Ignatius).
Helped from several wins by forfeit of their own, the Titans took CalTech down to the wire, and won all 10 of the bouts they fought in. Purdy-Sachs and Coon each went 2-0 in the foil, while Lorenzo and senior Doug Sollman (Sterling Heights, MI/Stevenson) each went 3-0.
Purdy-Sachs led the men’s team with a 5-2 record, while Lorenzo also finished above .500 on the day with a 4-2 mark, and Sollman broke even with a 3-3 showing.
“Michael (Purdy-Sachs) fenced well, but he should have been 7-0 today,” said Dressell. “But Tom (Lorenzo) did a great job to go 4-2, and that was a bit unexpected.”
“In general, everyone we faced today is typically a very strong and experienced team,” Dressell said of both the men’s and women’s competition. “I think we need a more aggressive mindset, and we lost som bouts I think shouldn’t have.”
Dressell believes that the experience gained at Stanford will pay off when the Titans face these same teams at Northwestern in January.
“This puts us in a good position after seeing all these teams,” he said. “At Northwestern it will be a much larger and longer meet, but we’ll have a better idea of how to compete against these teams and know what to work on for a better result.”
The Titans will be back in action on Dec. 5, traveling across town to Wayne State University for the Istvan Danosi Michigan Open.