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Photos: Jack Western & Jack Bradshaw
A week on from York’s historic Premier Division title in the men’s futsal, the women’s fencing 1sts are in sight of sealing another memorable title victory, after day one of their crucial BUCS weekend.
Heading into the weekend, York sat second in the table behind Edinburgh but ahead of their fellow rivals, Birmingham and Durham. Edinburgh remain unbeaten after five matches, but a challenging day has left them in a difficult position and potentially handed the advantage to York for whom it was an overwhelmingly positive day.
For York to be crowned champions, they must win all three of their contests, including defeating Edinburgh, whilst Edinburgh must also lose one of their other clashes against Birmingham or Durham. Although that may seem unlikely on first glance, today’s results have given York a realistic chance of running out victorious.
Today saw the sabre and foil events, with arguably York’s greatest strength – the épée – coming up tomorrow. A total of 45 points can be accumulated from each event and the team’s comparative total scores decide the contest.
The encounter against Edinburgh remains beautifully poised, as the two sides are tied at 75-75, going into the épée. However, York must also overturn a five-point deficit against both Birmingham and Durham, to whom they trail 69-74 and 63-68.
Edinburgh, meanwhile, have also had a challenging day and, as well as sitting level with York, they are trailing 79-85 to Birmingham and 66-90 to Durham. Overturning a 24-point deficit against Durham tomorrow will be tough, and thus if York defeat all of their opponents, they have a fabulous opportunity to become league champions.
York’s afternoon did not begin in the most positive fashion, as the sabre trio of Sophie Mason, Jessie Yeung and Louise Highton lost all three of their matches. Admittedly, sabre is York’s weakest weapon and the team can take heart from their efforts against extremely strong opposition.
The first opponents were Birmingham and the visitors convincingly won their first four bouts, racing into a 20-4 lead, with Mason the only York player managing two points in a single bout. York rallied with star player Highton warming to the occasion but Birmingham had too much in their armoury and ended up 45-24 winners.
Next up were Durham who proved to be the strongest opponents. Highton again was the inspiration, pulling the scores back to 12-25 after York were 20-6 down after four bouts. An interruption caused by a faulty scoring machine did not halt Durham’s momentum, though, and they raced to a 45-18 victory.
The match against Edinburgh was the closest-fought of the three, and York began superbly. Highton won the opening bout 5-2 and after Edinburgh struck back to lead 10-5, Yeung restored York’s lead to make it 15-11. Mason and Highton were edged in the following bouts and from there, Edinburgh saw the match out to win it 45-30.
Yet where as York had struggled in the sabre they excelled in the foil, as three victories allowed them to narrow their opponents advantage, and leave three enthralling encounters for the final day.
Mason and Highton were joined by Sofia Henneberg, and the trio worked well together to comfortably defeat Birmingham. The early stages were a close fought encounter, with York only holding a narrow 22-18 lead. However, Highton and in particular Mason proved too skilled for their opponents as York breezed to a 45-29 victory.
Next up was Durham, against whom York had a large deficit to reduce, and this they did in style. A 33-second 5-0 whitewash round from Highton was one of the highlights, as York raced into a 20-6 lead. Durham rallied slightly, but York were by far the superior outfit, as they secured a 45-23 win over their Northern rivals.
The last encounter of the day was arguably the most important, as York sought to thwart a strong Edinburgh trio which included the impressive Ruth Clarke. Clarke gave Edinburgh the early advantage, but superb performance by both Mason and Highton against Clarke, combined with a skilled 5-0 victory for Henneberg allowed York to take the contest 45-30, and leave the contest all square at 75-75.
At the end of the day Captain Mason commented: “I think after sabre it wasn’t looking good but we’ve done ourselves really proud in foil, that’s put us in a good standing for tomorrow.”
Today was a captivating day of high quality fencing, but tomorrow promises to be even more exciting. Undoubtedly, the lure of being crowned Premier Division champions will serve to inspire all involved.