UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Nittany Lions return to the strip for the Elite Invitational at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pa., from Saturday, Nov. 14, through Sunday, Nov. 15.
NITTANY LIONS ON THE STRIP
On the strip for the women’s epee team are Sophia Abashidze, Allegra Cristofoletto, Ana Sofía Romero, Bella Chen, Léna Gyenes and Yuna Tamura.
For the men’s squad, Sebastian Bonomo, Robert Hu, Eslam Osama, Mohammed Yasseen and Julian Brodsky will fence epee.
Competing for the women’s foil team are Eden De La Cruz, Thea Fernandes and Anastasia Shmay.
Spencer Burke, Chang Hee Han, Matthew Gonzalez, Alejandro Lorenzo, Andrea Zanardo and Alessio Fukuda will represent the men’s foil team in Philadelphia.
Fencing saber for the women’s team is Chloe Butman, Nargiza Jaksybaeva, Eve Scott and Eunyu Kim.
On the men’s side, Jonathan Chen, Tyson Deck, Daniel Iliffe, Jintao Yao and Han Luo will fence saber.
COMPETITION SCHEDULE
Saturday, November 14:
- 1:00 p.m. – Notre Dame vs. men’s and women’s teams
- 2:15 p.m. – Denison vs. women’s team; Yale vs. men’s team
- 3:30 p.m. – Columbia vs. men’s and women’s teams
- 4:45 p.m. – UNC vs. men’s and women’s teams
Sunday, November 15:
- 8:30 a.m. – Duke vs. men’s and women’s teams
- 9:45 a.m. – Ohio State vs. men’s and women’s teams
- 11:00 a.m. – Johns Hopkins vs. men’s and women’s teams
- 12:15 p.m. – Cleveland State vs. men’s and women’s teams
- 2:15 p.m. – Cornell vs. women’s team
LAST TIME ON THE STRIP
Penn State opened its 2026-27 season at the Coach Nikki Franke Invitational at Temple University with nine top-10 finishes between the men’s and women’s squads.
During individual competition, Osama, who made his collegiate debut, claimed gold in the men’s epee bracket. For the men’s foil team, freshman Andrea Zanardo claimed a second-place finish. Luo, Enes Kalendar and Iliffe earned the top spots in men’s saber, claiming third-place, fifth-place and eighth-place finishes, respectively.
On the women’s side, Gyenes wrapped up the first competition of her sophomore campaign with a ninth-place finish in epee. Chen followed up Gyenes in the women’s epee standings, earning a 10th-place finish in her collegiate debut. Jaksybaeva rounded out the top-10 finishes for the women’s squad, earning a 10th-place finish in saber.
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