MADISON, N.J. – The Haverford College women's fencing team earned an eighth-place finish out of 15 teams at the 2025 National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association Championships, hosted by Drew University on Saturday at Simon Form.

The competition followed a round-robin format of teams in IFA format, consisting of one bout per fencer, per school, totaling nine bouts per match. Based on these team results, 16 fencers in each weapon earned the opportunity to compete in the Individual portion of the day.

The Fords finished eighth in sabre, eighth in foil, and ninth in epee, securing an overall eighth-place ranking, edging out Army and Hunter, who rounded out the top 10. Temple claimed the overall title, with Tufts winning the foil competition and finishing second overall. Johns Hopkins, Drew, Brandeis, Stevens, and NJIT were the only others who surpassed the Fords in the standings.

During round-robin pool bouts, Haverford earned 21 victories in foil from the trio of Paige Copenhaver, Sophie Gardiner, and Sophie Stamicar. Haverford triumphed 18 times in epee with Nina Chafee, Nina Hamilton, Joselyne Malan and Payton Wagner making up that squad, and earned 20 wins in sabre from the group of Eleni Antoniades, Sienna Chung, Eliza Kollett, and Carter Wood.

In the individual round that followed the team competition, Gardiner advanced to the round of 16 in foil but was eliminated by Constanca Dimas of Temple. In sabre, Wood reached the round of 16 before falling to Anat Katz of Tufts, 15-7.

Senior foilist Sophie Gardiner was named to the NIWFA All-Academic squad following the conclusion of the tournament. 

Haverford will next compete at NCAA Regionals on Saturday, March 8, with select fencers returning to Madison, N.J., as the postseason rolls on from Simon Forum.