Vegas Heat in the Saber Team Event:
It may have been 110 degrees in the shade(!), but the Las Vegas Grand Prix Women's Saber champion proved ice-cold during the early rounds of the team event on Sunday.
Mariel Zagunis was coming off her fourth World Cup in four weekends, and a 15-14 finals victory Saturday night against Bianco of Italy. Sunday morning, Zagunis was visibly tired, and underperformed against a fiesty team from Japan in the second round.
Earlier, Team USA handily dispatched Canada in the first round, with Becca Ward and Sada Jacobson the stalwarts for the Americans. In the semi-final round, the USA faced a determined squad from the Ukraine, which had scored a come-from-behind thriller against France in the first round, and then pounded a much taller and more experienced Polish squad in the round of 8.
The US-Ukraine bout starts badly for the US. Zagunis goes 0-5 in the first bout, landing the Americans in an early hole. Becca Ward steps up for the American squad, and runs off a 10-4 win against her first opponent. Sada moves the squad forward in her first bout, 5-3, and the Americans lead 15-12.
Zagunis struggles badly in her second bout, as well, succumbing 4-8 to her second Ukrainian opponent, and suddenly, the USA trails again, 19-20. After Sada runs a tie at 5-5, the USA still trails 24-25 at the midway point of the match. The #6 seeded Ukrainians are gaining confidence against the #2 ranked American squad.
Ward has an inspired 2nd round, reeling the Ukraine team back in with a 6-3 win, to regain the lead at 30-28. Sada has her best bout of the match, with a 5-1 victory in her third bout. The USA is now leading 35-29.
At this point, US Women's Saber Team Coach Ed Korfanty makes the bold decision to bench the Olympic Gold Medalist, and subs in the fourth US teammate, Caity Thompson, for Mariel's third bout. Caity comes in hot off the bench, and pitches a perfect 5-0 shutout in relief to give anchor Ward a 40-29 lead.
In the final bout, Ward faces Ukrainian Olga Kharlan, who had been running roughshod over nearly every opponent in the team competition, including a stunning anchor round win over World Champion Anna-Lise Touya of France in the opening match.
Ward calmly runs off a 5-4 bout to seal the semi-final bout, and the US advances to the Gold Medal match against the Russian team, who later held off a determined Korean squad in the other semi-final bout.
The ladies have a three hour break. Several questions will face the American squad during their match with the #1 ranked Russian squad. Can Mariel's rest break give her the energy for one more bout? Can Sada fence a final fueled with but a muffin and a milkshake, following a 3-day bout with the stomach flu and her four straight weeks of international competition? Can Becca keep her team-leading Mojo going for one more round? Is Caity equally ready in the bull-pen, should Ed ring the phone again? Can anyone apply a no-baseball-metaphor filter before the next dispatch is filed?
The Team finals begin at 4 pm Sunday, PDST.
By: Bill Ward
TEAM USA GOLD MEDAL!!! Congrats.
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