Duke Fence 4 the Fight

Honor the memory of Elizabeth Beguinet

and her Fight Against Breast Cancer!

In memory of Elizabeth

Almost all of us have a family member, a friend, or a colleague who has or is fighting this awful disease. And while progress has been made, we still have a long way to go in curing and caring for those who are stricken.


For the Duke Fencing family, this disease has struck very close to home. On December 17th 2022, our own Elizabeth Beguinet passed away after a long battle with breast cancer.


The wife of our head coach Alex, Elizabeth was not just our recruiting coordinator, travel coordinator, and seamstress. She was our confidant, our coach, our on-campus mom, and our family for 34 years. She was the heart of the Duke fencing team.


Elizabeth regularly put the team before herself, attending meets, organizing recruiting visits, and patching lamés in the midst of chemo treatments. She fought until the very end, and when a member of our family fights, we all fight.

"Duke Fencing is a special team because of the family and the culture that Elizabeth and Alex created. Elizabeth was the heart of that family - strong, kind, and endlessly devoted to the team. Her passion for the sport and for the team was infectious and unparalleled. Through Fence for the Fight, we can honor Elizabeth's memory and support those in our community who are battling breast cancer." The Captains (Zsofia Walter, Christina Ferrari, Finn Hossfeld, Terence Lee)

Please support both Elizabeth's memory and Duke Fencing as we partner with the Duke Cancer Institute by making a pledge to fight Breast Cancer in Elizabeth's name. Our goal is to raise enough money to name a room after Elizabeth in the Duke Cancer Institute so her memory and her fight will continue to inspire others just as she's inspired us.

· You can pledge either $0.10, $0.25, $0.50, $1.00, $1.75 or $2.50 for every win a team member gets over the year. For perspective, we won 1215 bouts last year.

· You can also choose your own pledge amount or make a one-time donation of any amount.

· The largest donor will receive a Duke Fencing prize package in honor of their support.

· All donors will receive an autographed picture of this year’s team.

· For Duke Fencing Alums, we will track pledges by your graduation class. The graduation class with the highest donation total will be honored with a plaque prominently placed in the fencing gym.

· Your pledges will be totaled at the end of the season and you will be notified then of your pledge total by Duke Cancer Development to make payment.

· All money raised goes directly to the Duke Cancer Institute (DCI) and is fully tax deductible; you will receive a receipt from the DCI.