MADISON, N.J. (October 30, 2022)  – Junior Alana Schmitt and sophomore Arianna Daringa each posted a team-high 12 victories to lead the Stevens Institute of Technology women's fencing team to a 4-1 record Sunday at the first part of the Rangers Fall Invitational, hosted by Drew University at the Simon Forum. 

As a team, the Ducks posted victories over Clemson (23-4), Wagner (17-10), Drew (14-13) and Army (21-6) and dropped a hard-fought decision to NJIT (18-9). Sunday's 4-1 mark not only brought the Ducks' season record to 4-6, but avenged a pair of setbacks (Drew and Wagner) from the season-opening Sharktank Challenge.

"Today was a great day for the women's team," assistant coach Linda Vollkommer-Lynch commented. "We were able to defeat two teams today, Wagner and Drew, that we lost to last week. Overall, it was a great day of fencing with team wins and good individual performances."

Schmitt and Daringa helped pilot the sabre group to a 30-15 record on the day. Schmitt was a perfect 3-0 against Clemson and Drew, while Daringa went unblemished against Clemson, Wagner, Drew and Army. Each fencer posted an impressive 12-2 record on the day.

First-year Emily Zgombic finished the day with 11 wins, while senior Claire McNeill also reached double-digits in wins, scoring 10 wins at epee. Sophomore Elizabeth MacDonald (foil) added eight wins, while senior Ashley McDermott (epee) finished with seven. Additionally, senior Keira Mizzi finished with six wins, sophomore Jia Chen (sabre) had five wins, sophomore Sofia Savchuk (foil) and junior Victoria Beke (epee) each had three wins, while sophomore Renny Victoria had two. Senior Brianna Ellis (foil), sophomore Annabelle Crescenzo (foil), and first-years Anastasia Mose (foil) and Amber Muzones (foil), and sophomore Alyssa Ip (sabre) each added one victory to round out the Ducks victories on the day. The wins for Mose and Muzones were the first of each respective fencer's career, while Crescenzo, Ellis and Beke each earned their first wins of the season. Also of note, first-year Nerissa Lundquist made her collegiate debut.

Collectively, the foil group posted a 33-12 record (4-1 with the only setback coming via a 5-4 decision to NJIT) on the day and had the most victories of any of the three weapon squads. As previously noted, the sabreists finished with 30 wins (a 4-1 record for the day), while the epee team had 21 (2-3 record). 

The Ducks began the day with an impressive 23-4 decision over Clemson in the first meeting between the programs since 2010, with the foilists posting a perfect 9-0 record, which was paired with identical 7-2 scores by the sabre and epee groups. Stevens then dropped an 18-9 decision to NJIT, with both the foilists and sabre group falling by just a single point. The Ducks closed out the day with three straight wins, defeating Wagner 17-10 to improve to 10-1 all-time against the Seahawks, Drew 14-13, and Army 21-6. The Ducks' victory over the hosting Rangers moved Stevens to 22-1 against Drew since 2009, while the Ducks have won the last 21 matchups with the Black Knights.

Up Next: Women's Fencing returns to Madison on Nov. 6 for the second part of the Rangers Fall Invitational

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