(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – The U.S. Women’s Epee Team earned its second highest finish in World Cup history on Sunday when Team USA finished fourth at the Leipzig World Cup – the final tournament of the Olympic seeding period.
In a day of near-upsets, the Americans fell one touch short of advancing to the gold medal round in Germany.
In the table of 16 match against Great Britain, London nominees Kelley Hurley (San Antonio, Texas), Maya Lawrence (Teaneck, N.J.) and Susie Scanlan (St. Paul, Minn.) built a 40-32 lead going into the final bout. Courtney Hurley (San Antonio, Texas) came in as anchor for her first bout of the day and secured a 45-39 win for Team USA.
All four U.S. team members continued to fence in each of the remaining bouts, including the quarter-finals where Courtney Hurley anchored Team USA to a 39-36 win over Germany – the 2008 Olympic medalists.
With the score tied at 33 going into the final bout, Courtney Hurley outscored 2008 Olympic Champion Britta Heidemann, 6-3, to give Team USA a 39-36 victory.
Team USA met Poland in the semifinal and the ladies won or tied six of their first eight bouts, to take a 22-20 lead when Courtney took the strip for the final bout.
Due to the low score, Poland had plenty of opportunity to make up ground and 2009 World Team silver medalist Magdalena Piekarska tied the bout at 31 to force the match into overtime.
Piekarska scored first during the opening exchange and secured the victory for Poland, 32-31.
Team USA met Italy in the bronze medal match and trailed the 2011 Senior World bronze medalists for much of the match. Down by two touches after the eighth bout, 37-35, Courtney Hurley tied the score at 44 with 22 seconds left in the match. Neither Hurley nor her opponent,Francesca Boscarelli, scored again and the match went to overtime with Boscarelli scoring first to win the bout, 45-44.
"The team fenced well together with good communication and tactics. They were all frustrated by the overtime losses in the medal round, but showed again that they are capable of taking the top teams to the wire," said Coach Ro Sobalvarro (St. Paul, Minn.) "Typically they win those and I know that when this situation next arises they will be ready to capitalize on the opportunity. This is a team that has been moving steadily up for two years and they are ready to take big step in London."
The top-four finish secures a fifth seed at the Olympic Games for Team USA where the Americans will face Italy in the first round.
Top eight results are as follows:
Leipzig Epee Team World Cup
1. Poland
2. Estonia
3. Italy
4. USA
5. Germany
6. China
7. Romania
8. Ukraine
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