After narrowly missing promotion to the Premier League last year, the start of the new season saw the Women’s 1st Fencing team put our brand new pistes into action. This week’s opponents were new to our league; having risen through the ranks of South Eastern 2A, the Kings College London team earned promotion, and it showed.
Our first weapon of the match was foil, with ex-Captain and resident foilist, Lyndsay Galpin, new blood, Chloe Hooper, and current Captain Verity Ridgeon, who having switched to Sabre hasn’t picked up a foil in 11 years. The KCL girls started strong with a 15-1 lead, but after the third bout we started to warm up. Verity began to pull us back with impeccable footwork and timing, Chloe began finding her feet again after two years out of fencing, and Lyndsay looked like she was about to leave a trail of destruction after scoring four consecutive points in under 20 seconds. But alas it was not enough, our opponents were on top form and the final score was a disappointing loss, 45-25.
Next up was epée, similar to foil but with the whole body as a target area. Ayla Stenning, returning to the team for a second year, stepped up and kept the game close throughout. Next was Ruby Beaumont, another new face, who showed us that height doesn’t always matter in epée, scoring points against opponents seemingly twice her size. Lyndsay made a return appearance in the epée team with painstaking patience, keeping the opponents at bay and pulling us back within ten points of the KCL girls. It was a close game this time, but again our formidable opponents kept up their game, winning 45-32.
Finally we moved to Sabre, our strongest weapon. Verity, a former national champion in Sabre, was first up and took the piste by storm with a 5-0 start. Next up, Lyndsay again, who showed us that we’ll make a sabreur out of her yet, conceding only a couple of points. Finally Helen Rowland, now in her fourth year on the team, kept the game strong, not dropping any points. This theme continued throughout and we blitzed the scene with a win of 45-17. The overall result was a narrow win for KCL 107-102, but the women have proved that we still have what it takes to take on that league.