Syosset boys, Great Neck South girls earn fencing victories

Syosset’s Brandon Lim looked like he was in “The Matrix” when he managed to get a touch with his sabre on Great Neck South’s Matthew Lin while falling to his right off the mat, letting loose a roar with a pump of his fist as he rose from the mat.

Lim helped the Syosset boys fencing team defeat host Great Neck South, 16-11, on Friday. Both schools are among the best on Long Island, evident by each team entering the meet tied atop Nassau with 6-0 records. Lim said he knew how fast Lin was and used it to his advantage.

“When I saw him bend his knee forward, I knew that’s when he was going to attack,” Lim said. “When I saw that, that’s when I extended.”

Syosset’s sabre team of Lim, Sajan Shah and his ninth-grade brother Sohan Shah, set the tone for the meet and went 9-0.

Syosset’s Sean Guo sealed the victory against Great Neck South’s Justin Jia. After Jia took a 4-2 lead — just one point from a win to keep the Rebels alive in the meet — Guo mounted a comeback to force an extra minute of the bout after scoring two points to tie it at 4. Guo would then record the clinching point as he waited for Jia to use his speed only to counter.

“It’s a lot of pressure, but I’ve been fencing for a long time,” Guo said. “In those situations, you just need to buckle down ... If you get that first touch and get the ball rolling, you can get right back in it.”

GNS girls beat Syosset

The Great Neck South girls fencing team enjoyed a 17-10 win over Syosset. Alyssa Wong defeated Syosset's Anika Nayak, 5-4, while earning a critical point for the Lady Rebels against one of Long Island’s best fencers in Nayak.

“I’m very proud,” Great Neck South coach Catie Sagewick said. “[Wong] did everything that I asked of her. Nayak is a phenomenal fencer. [Wong] just had the timing.”

Kira Nguyen won her first bout, 5-0, in epee before winning another critical point for Great Neck South against Syosset’s Sophie Wang.

Nguyen’s second win over Syosset’s Wang, who finished third in Nassau’s foil competition last year, became even more impressive when you realize that Nguyen won using a foil instead of her usual epee. She said it was a new strategy her and Sagewick decided to try out, switching one of the school’s best epee fencers to bolster its foil team.

“In epee, you have to keep your distance because anyone can touch, but with foil, you can hit right away,” Nguyen said. “She kept herself open and I took the first opportunity I saw.”

Both sides agreed on one thing. This was likely a preview of things to come as the two schools usually battle it out late into the Nassau playoffs.

Sagewick said: “Having the win under our belt gives us the confidence to say, ‘We’ve done this before, we can do this again, and we can do it better.' "