Last Sunday the Brandeis fencing team welcomed Vassar, Yale, Brown, and St. Johns to the Gosman sports complex to participate in the first Brandeis Invitational of the season. Both the mens and womens teams produced some highlights during the day, but the final results were ultimately disappointing. The mens side went 2-2, with an 18-9 victory over Vasser and a 17-10 win over Yale coupled with 14-13 and 16-11 losses to Brown and St. Johns, respectively. The women only managed to generate a 20-7 win over Vasser while losing their other three matches, including a 21-6 blowout at the hands of St. Johns.
Overall, I was not displeased with the results, said coach William Shipmen of the mens team, though we could have been 4-0 instead of 2-2 with only three or four more bout wins on the day.
The mens foil team was particularly impressive, defeating each of the schools it faced and amassing a 32-4 record on the day, including an undefeated 9-0 record against Yale. Unfortunately, the sabre and epee teams could not put up the same sort of numbers, which resulted in Brandeis two losses. Sabre and epee started slow against Brown, and we were not able to catch up, though we made a good run to finish at 14-13. This was a disappointing loss, as I thought our saber team could have won this match, putting us over the top, lamented Shipmen after the meet.
The womens foil team also put up excellent numbers on Sunday, going 25-11 against some very strong opposition. However, the Lady Judges struggled in the sabre, winning only 12 bouts, but this is attributable to the team dealing with injury and illness during the meet. Despite the losses, Shipmen is optimistic about the direction that the team is heading in. Everyone fenced well, he said, though we need to learn how to handle fencers with unusual styles better. Our epee team showed continued improvement, and as time goes on they will win more of the close bouts against more experienced teams.
The fencing team resumes its season on Jan. 27 at home against Wellesley College. The second Brandeis Invitational will take place on Sunday, Feb. 5th.
