By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Remember Ridge.
Quietly, whenever the Montgomery High School sabre squad started to feel a little too good about themselves or if they started to look too far ahead, they would mention their Alamo, a loss to Ridge — a team they defeated in the regular season — by the Cougar girls fencing team that knocked them out of last year’s state team tournament in the first round of the Sweet 16.
”Last year, I think we were all hoping for a much better outcome,” said MHS junior sabre Emily Gartenberg. “This year, we didn’t go in thinking about outcome. We just wanted to fence our best. We didn’t worry about what the team was ranked or anything like that.”
The third-seeded Cougars took an important first step toward putting last year’s missed opportunity behind them with a 19-8 win over 14th-seeded Wayne Valley on Wednesday. With the win, the Cougars will host sixth-seeded Indian Hills on Tuesday in a doubleheader with the boys. The third-seeded MHS boys picked up a 17-10 win over No. 14 Randolph on Tuesday. They host No. 6 Watchung Hills on Tuesday.
In other Sweet 16 action on Wednesday, the seventh-seeded West Windsor-Plainsboro North girls lost, 17-10, to No. 10 Northern Highlands. The 15th-seeded West Windsor-Plainsboro South girls lost, 20-7, to second-seeded Bernards. Both Montgomery teams are thrilled to be in the state quarterfinals, but are still two steps away from the finals.
”That’s always our No. 1 goal,” Gartenberg said. “We’ve been working so hard. It feels like ever since freshman year, we’ve been working for this year’s team state tournament. Two years ago, we got really close. Last year, we got booted off earlier than we hoped. This year, our eyes are all on that state tournament.”
The MHS girls’ sabre squad picked up four wins Wednesday, two of them coming in the critical first round, against what was the most challenging weapon of Wayne Valley.
”Sabre was their strength, and their epee was good,” said MHS head coach Johanna Snedeker after improving to 12-2. “We knew going in we were going to have to fence them well. They were missing one of their top girls, which helped. We knew their sabre squad could do some damage. They worked hard to prepare to fence that sabre squad and they worked had to get as many wins as they could.”
Gartenberg, the Cougars’ B strip fencer this year behind Alicia Zhao, picked up a pair of wins. She’s moved up from the C strip that was her first varsity experience last year.
”I think the biggest difference is last year we had two seniors on the team who took more of the responsibility,” Gartenberg said. “This year, I’m co-captain with Alicia. I have to focus on not only improving myself, but teaching the freshmen. It’s been tough to find the right balance between teaching and improving.
”I think it’s gone well. It’s really exciting when we’re able to sub in and the JVs beat the other team’s JV. That’s a real testament to the strength of Montgomery. Not only is our varsity good, but when our JV goes against the other team’s JV, they hold up really well.”
The Cougars picked up plenty of wins against Wayne Valley, including a perfect 9-0 day in foil. Juliet Job, Allison Resnick and Mindy Tieu all went 2-0, while Alicia Beadling, Deepa Mahadevan and Anna Vadaparty all went 1-0. In epee, Ting Liu and Katie Schmidt were 2-0 and Katherine Couch and Anita Louie won a bout each. Zoee D’Costa picked up a win in sabre along with Gartenberg’s two wins.
”Emily went 2-1 and she fought hard for that,” Snedeker said. “She was on the B strip last year. My sabre squad is very young. I have no seniors on it. She’s been coming along and working hard to improve her own personal skills.
”They went 4-5. I was thinking it would be 3-6, and I was very proud of them for the work they did. They took two in the first round. That was a big boost for the team. When the foils swept, that was a big thing.”
The sabres have been steadily growing through this season. After losing to Governor Livingston, they resolved to warm up better before matches to try to get off to faster starts. Getting off to a fast start in the state tournament was crucial to their win.
”Last year, the girls didn’t come in mentally prepared,” Snedeker said. “They were physically prepared. It’s a team we had faced. They let their guard down. I think it taught us a lesson that you can never underestimate any team coming in. When it comes down to the state meet, you have to bring it or go home.”
Gartenberg is hoping that the Cougars can extend their state tournament run all the way to the finals. She has grown into a reliable contributor since taking up the sport almost by accident freshman year. When her ride was late to pick her up, Gartenberg accompanied her friend, Couch, to the fencing introductory meeting.
”I tagged along,” Gartenberg said. “They made it sound really cool, which it is.”
She started fencing outside of school and recently switched to the Lucchetti Fencing Academy. Even without outside fencing, Gartenberg would be hooked.
”So many of my friends are from fencing, that really keeps me involved in it,” Gartenberg said.
She relishes being a part of the Cougars team that is bonding together over their common pursuit of a state title.
”We’re still a really young team,” Gartenberg said. “Last year, we were young and we’re still young. We only have two seniors who will be leaving.”
It would be tempting to look ahead to next season’s potential to do even better, but the Cougars won’t be looking ahead. If they are ever tempted to, they only have to remind each other of last year’s first-round lesson, and they turn their focus to this year’s tournament.
”We practice really hard,” Gartenberg said. “We really want this. We want it really bad.”

