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ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cornell fencing program is gearing up for its 2023-24 campaign, which begins this weekend at the Vassar Invitational. The No. 10-ranked Big Red will battle in six duals on Sunday, Nov. 12 at Walker Field House, including a matchup with Ivy League foe and No. 12-ranked Yale.

Alongside its matchup against the Bulldogs at 1:00 p.m., Cornell will also take on Drew (10:00 a.m.), Stevens (12:00 p.m.), Lafayette (2:30 p.m.), Wagner (4:30 p.m.), and Sacred Heart (5:30 p.m.)

Last season, the Big Red fencing team went 7-1 in the event held in Poughkeepsie, with its only loss coming in a tight battle to No. 9-ranked Northwestern (15-12). Cornell went 178-38 in individual bouts over eight duals, including dominant wins over Cleveland State (26-1), Drew (25-2), and Lafayette (26-1).

BIG RED RANKED #10 IN USFCA PRE-SEASON POLL

Cornell was picked to finish 10th in the United States Fencing Coaches Association poll released on Oct. 30. The Big Red received 62 points and was the third northeast team in the rankings behind Columbia and Harvard, who were picked third and fourth. 

2023-24 USFCA Pre-Season Coaches Poll

1. Princeton (153)

2. Notre Dame (149)

3. Columbia (131)

4. Harvard (129)

5. Northwestern (98)

5. Ohio State (98)

7. Penn (84)

8. Penn State (82)

9. Duke (81)

10. Cornell (62)

11. Temple (54)

12. Yale (39)

13. St. Johns (35)

14. Stanford (28)

15. Air Force (25)

HORSLEY HIGHLIGHTS STRONG 2023-24 ROSTER

Asherah Horsley returns as the lone NCAA qualifier from a year ago. The senior foil put together a 61-38 overall mark in 2022-23, including a 16th place finish at the NCAA Fencing Championships, besting her 20th place mark from 2022.

Other returners for head coach Ariana Klinkov‘s squad include senior epee Clarice Lim (41-19), sophomore sabre Erika Chin (26-19), junior foil Rei Weintraub (48-29), and senior sabre Stella Berman (50-34), who each placed inside the top 20 in their respective events at the NCAA Northeast Regional last season. The Big Red also finished No. 10 in the final United States Fencing Coaches Association (USFCA) poll. 

Three epees with 40 or more wins also come back to the strip in Emma Ni (44-34), Nora Weber (43-13), and Clarice Lim (41-19). Malika Ketkar and All-Ivy first team selection Ketki Ketkar round out the returners, while Natalie Leung and Nawal O’Neil are the newcomers for the Big Red.

Eight foil competitors also return, with four of them earning double-digit wins last season with Asherah Horsley (61-38), Rei Weintraub (48-29), Renata Chusid (26-18), and Molly Veerkamp (13-1). Alexandra Abayeva, Meeah Bradford, Mia Jo, and Jessica Rosberger round out the returners, while Brianna Lee is the lone new face to the group.

But what may be the most solid lineup of returners for the Big Red is in the sabre division, as Cornell returns eight of ten athletes from a year ago. Five of those athletes had ten or more wins last year: Stella Berman (50-23), Sarah Lacson (40-20), Keona Moya (37-6), Emma Brown (32-11), Erika Chin (26-19), and Fiona Neibart (12-4). Klinkov rounds out her sabre squad with Sterre Hoogendoorn, Diana Piovanetti, and three first-year competitors in Isabela Carvalho, Mia Hsu, and Samantha Marsee.

BERMAN, NI, WEINTRAUB TABBED AS CAPTAINS

Head coach Ariana Klinkov has also selected Stella Berman, Emma Ni, and Rei Weintraub as the team captains for the upcoming season. 

She says each player brings something different regarding leadership to her squad, especially with the fresh faces joining the team. 

“This is a group of captains who can energize [the team], point out when someone needs a little extra help and can stand behind the scenes and be quiet, and yet lend infectious energy,” Klinkov said. 

SIX NEWCOMERS JOIN CORNELL FENCING IN 2023-24

The fencing team welcomes six new competitors this upcoming season, including Isabela Carvalho, Mia Hsu, Brianna Lee, Natalie Leung, Samantha Marsee, and Nawal O’Neil.

Carvalho joins the team from New York, N.Y., where she was a four-time Brazilian national senior semifinalist in sabre and a two-time U.S. national champion medalist in 2020 and 2022. Hsu comes north to Cornell from Georgia after having top finishes at all levels while competing as a sabre for the Nellya Fencers Club.

Lee joins the red and white coming off a stint as a member of the U.S. Fencing Cadet National Team (2020-21), where she regularly placed in the top 10 at national events on the cadet and junior levels in foil, including cadet gold at the July 2021 Challenge Tournament. Leung comes to East Hill after earning a first-team All-American at epee while attending Flintridge Preparatory School in Los Angeles, Calif. 

Marsee is the third athlete to join the fencing team from California, as the sabre posted top finishes on the local, regional, national, and international levels while competing for Premier Fencing Academy, including finishing second at the juniors North American Cup event in 2022. O’Neil rounds out the first-year class after capturing gold at the 2022 Australian Fencing Federation senior school national championships.

Klinkov brings in a talented group who can challenge the returners. But she says this group is more than athletically sound. 

“I recruited them as much for their athletic ability as for the amount they smile,” Klinkov said. “I wanted people who would bring enthusiasm and smiles. And when you have practices at 6:45 a.m. and have people laughing and cheering, you know you did it right.”

KLINKOV, JENNINGS BEGIN FIFTH SEASON LEADING CORNELL FENCING

Since becoming head coach in September 2019, Ariana Klinkov has pushed the Cornell fencing program to new heights. She has led the Big Red to an 83-24 record, including a program-record 32 consecutive wins to begin the 2022 season. It is also the most victories to start a season in any sport in school history.

Under Klinkov and associate head coach Susan Jennings, Cornell has 19 wins over nationally-ranked opponents, including a victory over No. 1-ranked Notre Dame last season. The duo has also had four All-Americans crowned under their guidance. 

Klinkov has many memories she looks back on fondly, including the 32-0 start that included victories over 11 ranked opponents in 2022 and the annual bowling outing the team has over the winter session to foster that team culture. 

But she says connections with the Cornell fencing alum mean just as much. 

“We started in many ways with an alumni group starting to get involved. And now we have people calling me, pitching for the team, and an alumni group that meets with the team to talk about career stuff and is willing to mentor people,” Klinkov said. “And the fact that I consider the alumni I met as my friends is amazing.”

STRONG 2023-24 SCHEDULE

Following the Vassar Invitational, the Big Red has four more events on its regular season schedule. Cornell will travel to Massachusetts for the Brandeis Invitational (Dec. 3) and Wheaton Invitational (Jan. 14). The team will then follow that up with trips to Philadelphia, Pa. for the Penn Elite Invitational (Jan 20-21) and to perennial power Northwestern for its duals from Feb. 3-4. The Big Red will begin its postseason at the Ivy League Round Robins (Feb. 10-11) hosted by Columbia, where it will look to best its sixth-place finish from a year ago. After round robins, Cornell will finish its season at the NCAA Northeast Regional hosted by LIU Brooklyn (March 10) and the NCAA Championships in Columbus, Ohio, which runs March 21-24. 

UP NEXT

After its trip to Poughkeepsie, Cornell will travel to Massachusetts for the Brandeis Invitational on Dec. 3. The Big Red went 6-0 in Waltham last year, including a 15-12 victory over No. 12-ranked St. John’s University and a 14-13 win over Ivy League foe Brown.