PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (November 5, 2023) – Junior sabreur John Morreale finished fifth to lead the fifth-ranked Stevens Institute of Technology men's fencing team Sunday at the inaugural Coach Nikki Franke Classic, hosted by Temple University at the Liacouras Center.

Senior Christopher Stone placed 14th at sabre, junior Rocco Mathews and sophomore James Glover finished 25th and 26th, respectively at foil, while sophomore Andrew Yurovchak and graduate student Patrick Pan placed 12th and 15th, respectively, at epee to account for the Ducks' top finishers at each weapon. A total of 72 fencers competed at both sabre and epee, while 68 competed at foil. Each of the three weapons had slightly different tournament formats. For epee, the opening round featured 14 pods, 12 with five and two with six. A total of 55 fencers advanced to the second round, as 11 pools of five competed for seeding in the direct elimination round. For foil, 13 pools made up the opening round: 10 pools of five and three pools of six. Like epee, 55 fencers advanced to compete in a seeding round that led to the direct elimination round. Sabre saw 14 pools as well, 12 of five and two of six, which led to 55 fencers advancing to the seeding round and then on to the direct elimination round. 

The annual event, which drew an estimated 500 fencers from over 30 schools, was previously known as the Temple Open for 42 years, but was renamed in October after Dr. Nikki Franke, who retired as head coach of Temple's women's program in August of 2022. Franke founded the program in 1972, turning the club team into a varsity sport and is the all-time winningest women's athletics coach at Temple. Franke amassed 898 wins, including the 1992 NCAA Championship, during her Hall of Fame career. 

The event is considered to be the largest of its kind in the nation and the Ducks returned to the prestigious tournament after a one-year hiatus.

The Rundown

• Morreale was the Ducks' top finisher on the day. Starting off in pool eight, Morreale went 3-1 in pool play and finished +5 in touches. Moving to pool six for the seeding round, Morreale was incredibly impressive, going a perfect 4-0, only conceding nine touches across the four matches. He finished tied for third in the seeding round and earned an opening round bye. 
• In his first match in the direct elimination round, the Wall, New Jersey native defeated NYU's Kevin Zu, who was a United States Fencing Coaches Association Division III All-American one season ago. Morreale then topped Boston College's Colin Noble before falling to Duke's Samir Travers in the round of eight. Travers, the weapon's eventual bronze medalist.
• Stone joined Morreale in the direct elimination round at sabre, and after a first-round win over Temple's Liam Kennedy, Stone advanced over Duke's Stephen Kim, the 2021 Atlantic Coast Conference Fencer of the Year, and the top seed in the bracket, after Kim withdrew with an injury. In the round of 16, Stone fell to the eventual sabre champion, UPenn's Gian Dhingra to end his day.
• First-year Cyrus Erachshaw also had an impressive run through the first two pods, earning the seventh seed in the direct elimination field before falling to Boston College's Sanjeet Brar in the second round. Classmate Kyle Stamis also advanced to the championship bracket before falling to Penn State's Nico Pope in the opening round.
• Graduate student Dylan Woodward was the final Duck to reach sabre's direct elimination bracket, falling to UPenn's UPenn's Marshall Hong in the second round. Woodward earned the third seed in the championship bracket after posting a perfect 4-0 mark in the seeding round, finishing a +11 in touches. The Chapel Hill, North Carolina native also won his opening pod, posting a 4-0 mark and finishing an impressive +13 (ranked in the top five in the opening-round field).

Top Performers

• Stevens also placed five fencers in the foil direct elimination bracket. Joining Mathews and Glover were sophomore Aden Vishnevsky, senior Erik Maran and first-year Liam Thomas. Mathews and Glover each won one match in the bracket, with Matthews topping Drexel's Rose Lancaster, while Glover bested Rutgers' Shane Bootsma. The Ducks' tandem also won two matches in the seeding round, while Mathews was the Ducks' top performer in the opening round, finishing 4-1 and +15 in touches.
• The Ducks had eight fencers advance to the direct elimination round at epee with Yurovchak and Pan leading the way. Yurovchak went 3-1 in the opening round, leading his pod in touch margin (+12). Pan was perfect in the opening round, going 5-0 and finished +12 in touches. Yurovchak continued his strong showing with a 3-1 mark (+6 in the seeding round to earn the 10th seed. The Nashua, New Hampshire native earned an opening round bye and bested Johns Hopkins' Gabriel Insler to reach the round of 16 before falling to Hopkins' Ethan Insler to close his competition. Pan, meanwhile, struggled in the seeding round and dropped to the 41st seed, but earned a pair of victories over Ben Serafin (UPenn) and Ayan Bhatnagar to reach the round of 16, before falling to Penn State Avery Townsend. Junior Nicholas Smith topped Navy's Matthew Lee to account for the Ducks' entrants in the epee bracket. First-years Noah Tumibay and Riley Parker joined graduate student Jack Corridon, senior Caleb Romero and sophomore Yash Yagnik in also reaching the elimination round. 

For the Opponents

• UPenn's Gian Dhingra earned the gold medal at sabre, while teammate Bryce Louis took the top spot at foil. Johns Hopkins' Ethan Insler earned the gold medal at epee to round out the individual champions.
• In terms of team totals, UPenn led all teams with four medals – two gold and two bronze, while Johns Hopkins was second with one gold, one silver and one bronze. Duke and Penn State each collected a silver and a bronze medal, while NYU totaled one third-place finish to round out the medalists.

Coach's Comments

• "Great day of fencing for the men's team today! A particularly impressive performance from John Morreale making the top eight. That's the first time a Ducks' sabre fencer finished among the top eight at this event. All of our fencers had a good showing today against a really strong field." – head coach Jim Carpenter

Up Next

• Stevens returns to the strips on Sunday, Nov. 12 for the annual Vassar College Invitational. Appropriate event links will be posted to StevensDucks.com once they are available.

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