Alliance Fencing Academy

Neely Branfield-Harvey (16) finished 12th in the field of 189 fencers from 11 countries.

The USA team returns from Germany and what an exciting event it was indeed! The tournament was held in the small, charming city of Heidenheim. The US Ntional Team was represented by Neely Brandfield-Harvey (16), Suzie Scanlan (16), Amkrit Bhinder (15), Emily D’Agostino (15), Phoebe Caldwell (16), and Heather Wilson (16). (Along with Neely two other Alliance fencers Francesca Bassa and Dina Bazarbayeva has qualified for this tournament. They will represent US National Team in Bonn, Germany on February 2007). The team was accompanied by Andrey Geva and Roberto Sobalvarro for coaching along with Jerry Benson and Amgad Badawi for refereeing.

Before the tournament started, the girls had an extra day to go shop in the town, eat at some delicious restaurants, relax in the hot tub at the hotel and enjoy the ice cold weather!
On Saturday, the tournament commenced with over 200 women epee fencers competing from countries such as, France, Great Britain, Germany, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, and of course, the United States. The USA team warmed up and got ready for three rounds of pools with two flights, and you had to win at least three bouts to make it to the next round! Fortunately, everyone made it out of the first pool, defeating some very tough Russian, German, and French competitors along the way. Suzie was 6-0, Neely was 4-2, Phoebe was 5-1, Amkrit was 5-1, Emily was 3-3, and Heather was 3-3. The next round was even tougher, but Neely came out with a 4-2 score again, Suzie was 6-0 again, Amkrit was 4-2 and Phoebe was 4-2 as well. Unfortunately, even though they both put up a good fight, Emily and Heather only had 2 wins and were not able to advance forward. However, they stayed around and cheered for their teammates.

The next round was the last of the pools and it was the most important one of them all. This would determine your seating for direct eliminations. This round was the hardest of them all, but all of the fencers performed beautifully and prevailed, making it through to the next day. Suzie was 5-1, Neely was 4-2, Amkrit was 3-3, and Phoebe was 3-3. Plus, in the end, Neely was seated 27th, Suzie was seated 5th, Amkrit was seated 48th and Phoebe was seated 45th. It had been a long, hard day but the USA team was still in the game! The girls, the parents, and the coaches enjoyed a nice dinner at the hotel and the team rested up for tomorrow.
The tournament continued the next day, on Sunday, moving on to the direct eliminations. If anyone would like to know…the competition was FIERCE! No one was going down without a fight. There were sounds of Russian girls growling and French girls screaming. Who does not scream at these tournaments? Suzie won her first bout comfortably with a score of 15-8 and so did Phoebe with a score of 15-10, moving them up to the top 48. Unfortunately, Amkrit had to fence against a pretty tough French girl and lost the bout 9-15. Neely also had some bad luck and lost to a Norwegian girl in a heart-breaking priority match, ending up with a score of 6-7. However, the girls were not out just yet. They still had another chance with repechage, and with that being the case, all of the girls went on to fence another match. Unfortunately, Suzie lost her bout by one point to a German girl, ending up with a score of 14-15, the score being neck in neck the whole bout. Also, Phoebe surprisingly lost her bout 11-15. However, there was some good news, with Neely winning her bout 15-9 and Amkrit winning 15-11. All of the girls were in the same boat, all being in the top 48. The next bout would be the most critical in making it to the top 32. All of the girls fought hard, but unfortunately were not able to continue forward, with Suzie losing 13-15, Phoebe losing 11-15, and Amkrit losing 10-15. Neely was the only one who made it to the next round with a victory of 15-9. The USA team was not done just yet! Emotions were rising, tensions were building, and things were starting to heat up as the round of 32 began. Neely had to fence a girl from France who she had previously lost to in the pools. The bout began with Neely leading 2-0, then she still lead with 12-8, and with plenty of screams, Andrey’s remarkable coaching, and Neely’s determination, she won the bout 15-10 and got her revenge! She was now in the top 24, and had three more bouts to go in order to reach the top 8. In the next bout, Neely had to fence one of the best Russian girls on the team, Tatiana Andrushina (the winner of this competition), and this would determine who made the top 16. Both girls fenced extremely well, but in the end, to the dismay of the USA team, the Russian girl won 15-10. However, Neely was still in because she had only lost one bout in the round of 32. She still had a chance! This time, Neely came up against a French girl again. The bout started with Neely leading 4-1, then the girl scored 3 points to tie the score 4-4. The bout could not have been closer, but Neely prevailed, winning 15-13! She had made the top 16! She did not stop there, and yet again, she had to fence a girl from France. The spot for top 12 was ready for the taking and both girls wanted it. With the combination of great fencing and excellent coaching, Neely advanced to the top 12 with a victory of 15-9! The waiting was finally over and the bout for the top 8 had finally arrived. The room went completely silent and all you could hear was the clinging of the blades and the frequent screams from the girls. Neely was fencing a German girl who was actually from the club in Heidenheim. The score had been neck in neck, with Neely leading 4-3 in the first period. However, the tables had turned in the second period, and now the other girl was leading 7-5. Neely made two fleshes to the body and tied the score 7-7. Then a double touch, the score now at 8-8. It now was time for the third period and the score was still tied, 8-8. Neely then made an attack and scored bringing the score to 9-8! Then another attack was made by Neely, and she was now leading 10-8. There were 40 seconds left now, and people were cheering like crazy. Unfortunately, the girl caught up and brought the score to 10-10, with time running out. The girls had to go into priority and it was in Neely’s favor. However, even as hard as she tries, the German girl won with a touch to the arm. It had a great bout and it could have gone either way. Neely had done a great job and finished in 12th place.
Overall, it had been a fantastic tournament and the USA team had done some excellent fencing and a marvelous job all in all! All of the girls put in tremendous amounts of effort and none of them went out without a fight! Next time they may do even better.

FINAL RESULTS (189 competitors):

1.   ANDRUSHINA Tatiana                 RUS
2.   JACQUES ANDRE COQUIN Jose.    FRA
3.   KOLOBOVA Violetta                    RUS
3.   CANDASSAMY Marie-Florence      FRA
5.   JAHN Cheryl                             NED
6.   MULTERER Ricarda                     GER
7.   GORAM Melissa                         FRA
8.   FERNANDEZ Clementine              FRA
12. BRANDFIELD-HARVEY Neely      USA
33. SCANLAN Susannah                   USA
40. BHINDER Amrit                          USA

44. CALDWELL Phoebe                     USA
98. D'AGOSTINO Emily                     USA
102. WILSON Heather                      USA

Way to go USA! Keep it up!

Cadet International Tournament (2006 McDonald's Cup)

November 25-26, 2006, Heidenheim, Germany

Neely Branfield-Harvey (16) finished 12th in the field of 189 fencers from 11 countries.