USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – The U.S. Men’s Epee Team finished fourth at the Buenos Aires World Cup in Argentina on Sunday.

In its final World Cup appearance before the Senior World Championships in August, Team USA included all four of the fencers who will compete in Budapest where the Americans will defend the title the team won at the 2012 Worlds.

Team USA was seeded second in the tournament and opened with a table of 16 match against Israel who let the match, 21-20 after the fifth period. Two-time Olympian Soren Thompson (New York City, N.Y.) turned the tide for the Americans as he outscored Yuval Shalom Freilich, 10-4, in the sixth period to give Team USA a 30-25 lead. Adam Watson (Richford, Vt.) and Jason Pryor (Colorado Springs, Colo.) kept the U.S. team in the lead for the next two bouts and Thompson anchored the squad to a 45-39 victory.

In the quarter-finals, Thompson, Watson and Alexander Tsinis (Little Neck, N.Y.) won or tied six of the nine bouts against Poland to finish the match, 45-43.

Team USA met Switzerland in the semifinals – a team that was seeking to move into the #1 world ranking.

Tsinis was substituted in for Thompson after the fourth bout and Watson assumed the role of anchor, but the Swiss squad won the match, 45-27, and went on to claim gold and become the new top-ranked team in the world.

In a rematch of last year’s Pan American final, Pryor came in as anchor, but he, Tsinis and Watson lost to Venezuela, 45-32.

Click here for complete results.

Top eight results are as follows:

Buenos Aires Team Epee World Cup
1. Switzerland
2. Hungary
3. Venezuela
4. USA
5. Ukraine
6. Poland
7. Italy
8. France