POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (February 19, 2017) – The Vassar College women's fencing team hosted the Eastern Women's Fencing Conference (EWFC) Dual Meet Championships in Walker Field House Sunday afternoon, and finished fourth of eight teams competing as Johns Hopkins University won its sixth overall title.

The Brewers had a great day though individually, as six members of the squad earned EWFC All-Star Honors, while the team earned the 2016-17 EWFC Roi Green Memorial Team Spirit Award. All three foil starters for VC earned All-Star accolades, as senior Elsa Stoff and sophomore Sophie Blumenstock earned First Team, while sophomore Mirit Rutishauser was named as a EWFC Second Team All-Star.

In epee, senior Olivia Weiss picked up another First Team All-Star honor, while sophomore Rose Hulsey-Vincent picked up Second Team laurels. In sabre, Annie Innes-Gold lost in the final of the elimination bracket but earned EWFC First Team All-Star accolades as well.

In the team portion of the event, Vassar started the day with a narrow 14-13 loss to Drew University, but rebounded to knock off Haverford 18-9. VC continued its winning efforts with a 23-4 win over CCNY, a 26-1 victory over Yeshiva and a 23-4 win against Hunter College. In the final two rounds, VC dropped a tough 16-11 decision to Stevens Institute of Technology and ended the day with a 15-12 loss to eventual champion Johns Hopkins.

Once the Dual Meet Championship was decided, the fencers returned to the strips for direct elimination tournaments in each of the three weapon classifications to determine this season's EWFC All-Star Teams, consisting of nine student-athletes in foil, epee and sabre. This marks the third time the conference has held both its Dual Meet and Individual Tournaments on the same day and at the same location.

Vassar's best finish came in sabre, as Innes-Gold made it all the way to the finals of the weapon bracket. In the opening round, Innes-Gold rolled to a 15-7 win and then followed that up with a 15-11 victory over Anna Neuhardt of Haverford. In the semifinals, Innes-Gold would outlast Alicia Tomaszewski 15-13 to make the championship. In the finals, Innes-Gold battled hard but fell to Erin Chen of Hopkins 15-12.

In foil, VC had three members in the elimination bracket, and two of the three made the quarterfinals. Stoff won her first two rounds of action before losing a heartbreaker of 15-14 to Allison Urban-Spillane of Stevens. On the top half of the bracket, Rutishauser was eliminated by eventual champion Abigail Kaye of Stevens in the second round. In the next round, Blumenstock would also fall to Kaye 15-9.

In epee, Weiss started the bracket with a 15-4 win over Jamie Baum of Yeshiva, and Weiss would win a narrow decision over Judine Watkis of CCNY. In the round of four, Weiss dropped her match to Amanda Choy of Stevens 15-9. In the bottom half of the bracket, Hulsey-Vincent won her first match as the No. 6 seed 15-8, but fell to Celine Shanosky 15-8 to end her day.

On the day, Stoff was 19-2 to lead all epee fencers while Blumenstock posted a 17-4  day in dual meets and Rutishauser was 14-7. In epee, Weiss went 15-4 with a weapon-high touches scored total of 91, and Hulsey-Vincent was also 15-4. Innes-Gold led all sabre fencers Sunday in total wins with 19, as she lost only one of her bouts. She also led all sabre fencers with 94 touches scored.

Vassar will head to the NEIFC Championships on Saturday, March 4 at 9 a.m. at the University of Vermont in Burlington, VT.