Note: The IFAs begin with three flights (A-B-C) in each weapon. Each team receives a point for every bout victory in the flight stage. Sixteen fencers (top-8 from flight-A, top-5 from flight-B and top-3 from flight-C) then advance to the direct-elimination in their respective weapons.
• Columbia edged Penn by one point (25-24) for the women's foil team title, with Harvard (22) and Princeton (21) close behind. Harvard and Princeton could have challenged for the title, but each was missing a key women's foilist: Harvard fifth-year senior Emily Cross (a 2008 Olympian and the '05 NCAA champion) and Princeton talented newcomer Lucille Jarry (the 2009 Ivy League runner-up, behind Cross).
• Nicole Ross (A) and Abby Caparos-Janto (B) each went 9-2 in their flights, with Alex Huber adding a 7-3 record to complete the winning 25-point total. Penn veteran Ilana Sinkin managed only a 6-5 record in flight-A, but Laura Baragano (9-2) and Mia Howell (9-1) combined to help the Quakers nearly tie the Lions. Columbia won the IFA women's foil team title for the fifth time.
• Ross was the top seed in the DE (she was +29 in flight-A) and went on to claim the IFA women's foil individual title, with a round-of-16 win over #16 Zoe Evans of NYU (15-13), a 15-7 quarterfinal with #9 Rocky Rothenberg of Princeton and a comfortable 15-4 semifinal vs. Harvard's Arielle Pensler (the #12 seed) – before topping Princeteton's Andrea Oliva (#6 seed) in the title bout. Ross is the sixth Columbia fencer (first since '02) ever to win the IFA women's foil title.
• Oliva's run to the title bout included wins over #11 Abby Caparos-Janto of Columbia (round-of-16, 15-12), a 15-13 quarterfinal vs. #14 Mia Powell (Penn) and a 15-6 semifinal win over #7 Rebecca Hirschfeld (Cornell).
• The #12 DE seed Pensler was the top finisher out of flight-B (where she was 7-4/+11), thanks to wins over flight-A fencers Sinkin (#5; 15-10 in round-of-16) and MIT's Cordelia Link (#4; 15-13 quarterfinal). Princeton's Rothenberg also posted a top-8 finish (6th) after advancing out of flight-B (10-1/+26). Rothenberg, as the #9 DE seed, beat #7 Kessie Newhall of Brandeis in the round-of-16 (15-14).
• Penn's Mia Howell (Penn) placed 7th, despite starting the day in flight-C (8-2/+20). Howell was the #14 seed in the DE, where she upset #3 Katherine Putt of Yale in the round-of-16 (15-8), before losing to Princeton's Oliva in a 15-13 quarterfinal. Another flight-C fencer, Harvard's Anna Podolsky, also finished in the top-8 – aided by a "walkover" bout against #2 seed Sherlby MacLeod (her Harvard teammate) in the round-of-16.
• Ross was the only top-4 seed to reach the semifinals, with the others including #6 Oliva, #7 Hirschfeld and #12 Pensler. Hirschfeld – who drew a break in the DE (after MacLeod went out in the round-of-16) – edged Podosky in the quarterfinals (15-12).
IFA Women's Foil Round-of-16
(1) Nicole Ross (COL) def. (16) Zoe Evans (NYU) ... 15-13
(15) Anna Podolsky (HARV) adv. past (2) Shelby MacLeod (HARV) ... forfeit/walkover
(14) Mia Howell (Penn) def. (3) Katherine Pitt (Yale) ... 15-9
(4) Cordelia Link (MIT) def. (13) Dana Baines (COR) ... 15-10
(12) Arielle Pensler (HARV) def. (5) Ilana Sinkin (Penn) ... 15-10
(6) Andrea Oliva (PR) def. (11) Abby Caparos-Janto (COL) ... 15-13
(7) Rebecca Hirschfeld (COR) def. (10) Laura Paeagano (Penn) ... 15-10
(9) Rocky Rothenberg (PR) def. (8) Jessie Newhall (BRAN) ... 15-14
Quarterfinals
(1) Nicole Ross (COL) def. (9) Rocky Rothenberg (PR) ... 15-7
(7) Rebecca Hirschfeld (COR) def. (15) Anna Podolsky (HARV) ... 15-12
(6) Andrea Oliva (PR) def. (14) Mia Howell (Penn) ... 15-13
(12) Arielle Pensler (HARV) def. (4) Cordelia Link (MIT) ... 15-13
Semifinals
(1) Nicole Ross (COL) def. (12) Arielle Pensler (HARV) ... 15-4
(6) Andrea Oliva (PR) def. (7) Rebecca Hirschfeld (COR) ... 15-6
Final
(1) Nicole Ross (COL) def. (6) Andrea Oliva (PR) ... 15-4
2009 IFA Women's Foil Final Top-16 Data (field of 37)
1. Nicole Ross (Columbia) ... #1 DE seed ... 9-2 in flight-A (+29)
2. Andrea Oliva (Princeton) ... #6 DE seed ... 6-5 in flight-A (+1)
3. Rebecca Hirschfeld (Cornell) ... #7 DE seed ... 6-5 in flight-A (E)
3. Arielle Pensler (Harvard) ... #12 DE seed ... 7-4 in flight-B (+11)
5. Cordelia Link (MIT) ... #4 DE seed ... 7-4 in flight-A (+1)
6. Rocky Rothenberg (PR) ... #9 DE seed ... 10-1 in flight-B (+26)
7. Mia Howell (Penn) ... #14 DE seed ... 9-1 in flight-C (+21)
8. Anna Podolsky (HARV) ... #15 DE seed ... 8-2 in flight-C (+20)
9. Shelby MacLeod (HARV) ... #2 DE seed ... 7-4 in flight-A (+15)
10. Katerine Pitt (Yale) ... #3 DE seed ... 7-4 in flight-A (+9)
11. Ilana Sinkin (Penn) ... #5 DE seed ... 6-5 in flight-A (+5)
12. Jessie Newhall (Brandeis) ... #8 DE seed ... 5-6 in flight-A (-4)
13. Laura Paragano (Penn) ... #10 DE seed ... 9-2 in flight-B (+27)
14. Abby Caparos-Janto (COL) ... #11 DE seed ... 9-2 in flight-B (+24)
15. Dana Baines (COR) ... #13 DE seed ... 7-4 in flight-B (+4)
16. Zoe Evans (NYU) ... #16 DE seed ... 7-3 in flight-C (+17)
2009 IFA Women's Foil Final Team Standings
1. Columbia 25-7 (+65) ... Nicole Ross 9-2, Abby Caparos-Janto 9-2, Alex Huber 7-3
2. Pennsylvania 24-8 (+53) ... Ilana Sinkin 6-5, Laura Paragano 9-2, Mia Howell 9-1
3. Harvard 22-10 (+46) ... Shelby MacLeod 9-2, Arielle Pensler 7-4, Anna Podolsky 8-2
4. Princeton 21-11 (+24) ... Andrea Oliva 6-5, Rocky Rothenberg 10-1, Ann Gong 5-5
5. NYU 17-15 (+22) ... Amanda Rysling 4-7, Sophie Ciaravino 6-5, Zoe Evans 7-3
6. Yale 16-16 (+16) ... Katherine Pitt 7-4, Valerie Makeeva 5-5, Samantha Attwood 0-1, Jillian Liu 4-6
7. Cornell 15-17 (-10) ... Rebecca Hirschfeld 6-5, Dana Baines 7-4, Analise Peleggi 2-8
8. MIT 15-17 (-24) ... Cordelia Link 7-4, Jenna Caldwell 5-6, Lindley Graham 3-7
9. Brandeis 14-18 (-11) ... Jessie Newhall 5-6, Alex Dalrymple 3-8, Jess Davis-Heim 6-4
10. Boston College 13-19 (-39) ... Jenna Colacino 4-7, Christine Cook 4-7, Erin Hynes 4-6
11. Brown 3-19 (-58) ... Yukiko Kunitomo 3-8, Lyla Fuyiwara 0-11
12. Vassar 2-30 (-84) ... Jackie Kory 1-10, Melissa Lee 1-10, Alia Heintz 0-4, Liz Ilechko 0-6