By Pete LaFleur (editor@collegefencing360.com)
PSU senior Anastasia Ferdman (left) won the Penn State Open women's epee title for the second time
A familiar face finished atop Saturday's women's epee competition at Penn State's annual Max Garret Open, as PSU senior Anastasia Ferdman (Maalot, Israel) won the event for the second time in her career (also '07). Ferdman – who eight months earlier had won the NCAA women's epee title (also on the Penn State campus) – finished in the top-5 at the Penn State Open in all four seasons of her career (4th in '06; 5th in '08).
Israel natives Anastasia Ferdman (right) and Noam Mills (left) – who met in the 2009 NCAA title bout (pictured) – faced off again during last weekend's Penn State Open semifinals (photo by Pete LaFleyr/CF360).
Ferdman faced a fellow senior, Temple two-time All-American Kristin Howell (San Antonio, Texas), in the title matchup and survived a tight bout that ended 15-14. Earlier in the day, Ferdman had emerged from the pool round as the #4 seed heading into the direct-elimination. She then defeated the #13 seed, Northwestern senior Joanna Niklinska (Grander, Ind.) in the round-of-16 (15-6) before topping another Wildcats senior, three-time All-American Christa French (#5 seed; Southlake, Texas) in a 15-9 quarterfinal. Ferdman – likewise a three-time All-American (4th at '07 NCAAs; 6th in '08) – ended up facing three fellow All-Americans in her four DE bouts, with the semifinals producing another thrilling 15-14 bout. That bout came versus the top seed, Harvard sophomore and fellow Israeli Noam Mills (Kfar Saba, Israel), who also had faced Ferdman in the 2009 NCAA final (15-9).
Temple senior Kristin Howell (left) – pictured during the 2009 NCAAs (at Penn State) – finished second at the Penn State Open (photo by Pete LaFleur/CF360).
Harvard sophomore Noam Mills (left) reached the semifinals at the Penn State Open.
Mills (6th at the '08 PSU Open) closed the day with a win, posting a comfortable 15-8 margin vs. D'Agostino in the third-place bout. Her first two bouts in the DE were closer: 15-10 vs. 16th-seeded Penn State sophomore Alyssa Vongries (3rd-place finisher in '08; Bloomington, Minn.), and a 15-13 quarterfinal vs. Ohio State senior Julia Tikhonova (#9 seed; Jerusalem, Israel).
Duke's Emily D'Agostino (left) has an impressive debut at the Penn State Open, placing fourth.
After narrowly earning a spot in the 16-fencer DE (#14 seed), D'Agostino engaged in a defensive battle with fellow rookie Hannah Safford (#3 seed; Princeton; San Francisco, Calif.). The Duke freshman was advanced past that tight bout (9-8), followed by a 15-7 quarterfinal vs. Northwestern freshman Kate Cavanaugh (#6 seed; Milwaukee, Wis.).
Northwestern seniors Christa (right) and Kayley (left) French both reached the direct-elimination phase at the '09 PSU Open (pictured at the '09 NCAAs; photo by Pete LaFleyr/CF360).
The other four DE bouts (round-of-16) were as follows: ND's Hurley had an easy win (15-5) over Northwestern senior Sarah Henning (#15 seed; New Berlin, Wis.) ... OSU's Tikhonova turned in a 15-12 win over another Wildcats senior, 8th-seeded Kayley French (Christa's twins sister and the '07 PSU Open runner-up) ... Cavanaugh posted a 15-6 win over Temple sophomore Jillian Bratton (New York, N.Y.) ... and Christa French defeated a Northwestern teammate, freshman Maddy Amos (#12 seed; Pacific Palisades, Calif.), 15-12.
Notre Dame's Kelley Hurley (left) – a 2008 U.S. Olympian and twot-time NCAA finalist ('08 champion) – dropped a 15-12 quarterfinal bout at the '09 Penn State Open, vs. fellow senior Kristin Howell of Temple.
Hurley was the women's epee runner-up at the 2006 Penn State Open and later competed in foil at the '08 event (18th). She reached the NCAA title bout as a freshman in 2007 (runner-up) and again in '08, when she won the NCAA title. Hurley was at Penn State for the 2009 NCAAs – but only as a spectator, as she was edged out of the NCAA field (max. of two entrants per team, in each weapon) by two ND teammates: her sister Courtney Hurley and Ewa Nelip (both of whom reached the '09 NCAA semifinals). The Hurley sisters and Nelip arguably were the top-three women's epeeists in all of collegiate fencing during the 2008-09 season ... but the Irish won't face such a NCAA-qualifying dilemma in 2010, as Nelip currently is taking a year off from college fencing in order to train and compete with the Polish national-team program (she will have two years of eligibility remaining, as will the current sophomore Courtney Hurley following the 2009-10 season).
OSU senior Julia Tikhonova (left; shown during '09 NCAAs) – holds the rare distinction of having competed at the NCAA Championships during her career in both the foil and epee events (photo by Pete LaFleur/CF360).
Most of the women's epee top-16 finishers had competed previously at the Penn State Open (in addition to finishes referenced above): Christa French (5th-8th-21st, from '06-'08) ... Tikhonova (12th in '06 foil/6th in '07 foil) ... Reis (13th in '07/11th in '08) ... Kayley French (8th-2nd-32nd. from '06-'08) ... Bratton (12th in '08) ... Niklinska (30th-31st-10th, from '06-'08) ... and Henning (36th-35th-35th, from '06-'08).
Christa French was a top-10 finisher in each of the three previous NCAAs (6th-7th-10th, from '07-'09) while her sister Kayley was 14th at the '07 NCAAs and 20th in '09. Tikhonova earned foil All-America honors in '07 (5th at NCAAs) and placed 16th in women's epee at the '09 NCAAs.
Princeton sophomore Susannah Scanlan (left)
Princeton sophomore All-American Susannah Scanlan – who placed 5th at the '09 NCAAs – had a poor finish in her pool bouts, placing 27th. Two other fencers who competed at the 2009 NCAAs were among the women's epee participants at the '09 PSU Open: Yale's Rebecca Moss (24th) and Temple's Grace Wu (26th).
A handful of top college women's foilists did not compete at the 2009 Penn State Open: the aforementioned ND duo of Courtney Hurley and Nelip (3rd and 4th at the '09 NCAAs; Nelip also was 3rd in '08), Columbia sophomore Neely Brandfield-Harvey (6th at '09 NCAAs), St. John's three-time All-American Tanya Novakovska (5th-8th-8th at '07-'09 NCAAs), and University of Pennsylvania junior Stephanie Wheller (8th at '09 NCAAs).
Northwestern three-time All-American Christa French (left)
Several of the fencers mentioned in the text above currently hold top-25 status in the U.S. Fencing Association's national rankings for U.S. senior-level women's epeeists: Kelley Hurley (2nd), Courtney Hurley (3rd), Scanlan (4th), Brandfield-Harvey (7th), Wheeler (15th), D'Agostino (24th) and Christa French (25th).
2009 Penn State Max Garret Open – Women's Foil
def. (10) Kristin Howell (Temple) ... 15-14
PSU's Anastasia Ferdman (left) and Harvard's Noam Mills (right) – shown during the 2009 NCAA title bout – reprised their rivalry in the semifinal round of the 2009 Penn State Open
Northwestern freshman Kate Cavanaugh (left)
QUARTERFINALS
(1) Mills (HARV) def. (9) Julia Tikhonova (Ohio State) ... 15-13
(4) Ferdman (PSU) def. (5) Christa French (Northwestern) ... 15-9
(14) D'Agostino (Duke) def. (6) Kate Cavanaugh (NW) ... 15-7
(10) Howell (TEM) def. (2) Kelley Hurley (Notre Dame) ... 15-12
2009 Penn State Open – Women's Epee Final Standings
Princeton freshman Hannah Safford (left)
1. Anastasia FERDMAN (Penn State)
2. Kristin HOWELL (Temple)
3. Noam MILLS (Harvard)
4. Emily D'AGOSTINO (Duke)
Penn State senior Maria Joao Reis (left)
5. Kelley HURLEY (Notre Dame)
6. Christa FRENCH (Northwestern)
7. Kate CAVANAUGH (Northwestern)
8. Julia TIKHONOVA (Ohio State)
Northwestern senior Kayley French (left)
9. Hanah SAFFORD (Princeton)
10. Maria Joao REIS (Penn State)
11. Kayley FRENCH (Northwestern)
12. Jillian BRATTON (Temple)
Temple sophomore Jillian Bratton (left)
13. Maddy AMOS (Northwestern)
14. Joanne NIKLINSKA (Northwestern)
15. Sarah HENNING (Northwestern)
16. Alyssa VONGRIES (Penn State)
Failed to reach round-of-16 (DE)
17. Phoebe CALDWELL (PRIN)
18. Nadia ELBEIB (Harvard)
19. Felicia SUN (Harvard)
20. Diane ZIELINSKI (ND)
21. Keri BYERTS (Penn State)
22. Kara COLLINS (NW)
23. Robyn SHAFFER (Yale)
24. Rebecca MOSS (Yale)
25. Kendrick MOONEY (NW)
26. Grace WU (Temple)
Temple's Grace Wu (left), shown during action at the 2009 NCAAs (photo by Pete LaFleur/CF360).
27. Susannah SCANLAN (PRIN)
28. Nicole TILLEY (NW)
29. Lauren CLARK (Princeton)
30. Chandler CLAY (Princeton)
31. Jennifer DENIKE (Duke)
32. Eunice CHAN (Princeton)
Temple's Kristin Howell (below left) and Yale's Rebecca Moss (right) – who fall at opposite ends of the height spectrum – were among the more noteworthy entrants at the 2009 Penn State Open (pictured during the '09 NCAAs; photo by Pete LaFleur/CF360).
33. Alexia CESAR (Yale)
34. Tasha GARCIA (Yale)
35. Nicole HORSCROFT (TEM)
36. Messila LITSCHI (UNC)
37. Sari LEVY (Yale)
38. Christine FORSYTHE (Fairleigh Dickinson)
39. Annie KAZARJAN (FDU)
39. Kyra SWICK (Penn State)
41. Elyse GURNOWSKI (Ohio State)
42. Mary Jane PAZYDAEV (Ohio State)
43. Liana WEBSTER (Penn State)
44. Alexa FISHMAN (Harvard)
44. Caitlin VASSOLER (Penn State)
44. Katherine SERGERTY (Yale)
47. Alyssa LOMBARDI (Temple)
48. Tasha DOMASHOVETZ (Ohio State)
49. Annie MORAN (North Carolina)
50. Brittany BENNETT (North Carolina)
51. Stephanie MYERS (Notre Dame)
52. Sylvie SPEWAK (Duke)
53. Evgeniya TYRTOVA (Fairleigh Dickinson)
54. Vanesas ROSA (Notre Dame)
Penn State senior three-time All-American Anastaia Ferdman's career highlights include winning the 2009 NCAA women's epee title and twice winning the Penn State Open ('06 and '09 ... photo taken during '09 NCAA title bout, by Pete LaFleur/CF360).
