March 3, 2008

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - With her sixth place finish at Sunday's Northeast Regional Championships, Sophomore Lidia Gocheva qualified for the Mar. 13 NCAA Championships to be held in Columbus, Ohio. The sophomore from Sofia, Bulgaria was a wildcard qualifier a year ago.

Other Bulldogs in action Sunday included epeeists Pruittiporn Kerdchoochuen, Rebecca Moss and Abigail Fraeman and saberists Farrah Kimovec, Katherine Arden, and captain Erin Frey.

In the final pool of ten fencers, Gocheva posted a 4-5 record and a -2 indicator, a performance which earned her the sixth place finish. She recorded 33 touches in the process.

Junior epeeist Abigail Fraeman also had an impressive outing, finishing 15th and just missing out on qualifying. Fellow epeeist, sophomore standout Rebecca Moss, who qualified for the NCAA's last season, ended up 18th, but the result is deceiving. The epeeist encountered the eventual second, fourth, and seventh place finishers in the second round of pool fencing and was unable to escape.

Arden's 16th place finish led the Yale sabre squad, with Frey coming in 18th place right behind her.

Report filed by Nicholas Thorne '08, Yale Sports Publicity