The fencing teams competed in the second round robin Northeast Conference Meet of the year at Boston College on Saturday, Jan. 25. Brown University, Boston College, Vassar College, Dartmouth College and Tufts University competed in both men’s and women’s competitions, while Smith College competed in only women’s events.
The men went 4-1 in the tournament, losing only to Brown, 18-9. They lost their first match in all three weapons. The men’s team rebounded by losing only two squad matches the rest of the day. They defeated their other competitors easily 20-7, 22-5, 19-8 and 18-6. They swept BC and Vassar across the weapons and demolished Tufts in foil 9-0. Noah Berman ’15 led the men with a 6-2 record in foil. Through the two conference meets, the juniors have been leading the way with Adam Mandel ’15 19-3 in saber and Jess Ochs-Willard ’15 17-6 in saber. They are tied with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for second in the Northeast Conference at 8-2, only behind Brown. They stand at 10-5 for the year.
The women had a similar outing at 5-1, losing to Brown 16-11. This came after a decisive 25-2 win against Smith. They won in the foil against Brown 5-4 but lost in epee 4-5 and saber 7-2. Their next round resulted in a narrow 14-13 victory against BC which came down to the final saber touch. They subsequently defeated Vassar 19-8, Dartmouth 18-9 and Tufts 21-6. They defeated Dartmouth in saber and Tufts in foil 9-0 in each. Caroline Mattos ’16 was 13-2 in foil while Ashley Jean ’17 was 13-4 in saber. Through the two conference meets Mattos is 22-3, Vikki Nunley ’14 is 20-5 in foil, Jean is 25-5 and Nina Sayles ’17 is 22-5 in saber. They are second in the Northeast Conference at 10-2, four wins ahead of MIT and behind Brown. The squad is 13-6 on the year.
Both teams were in action Saturday, Feb. 1 in Waltham for the Eric Sollee Invitational. Haverford College, Hunter College, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, the Stevens Institute of Technology and New York University participated in the competition. The team went 4-1. The men lost only to NYU 15-12, in the final matchup of the day. Before the match against the Violets, the men had not lost any squad matches. They swiftly defeated Haverford 22-5, Hunter 21-6, NJIT 21-6 and Stevens 20-7. The saber squad posted a perfect 9-0 against Haverford, as foil defeated Hunter 9-0 as well. Mandel went 11-1, Ochs-Willard was 8-3 and Berman was 10-2.
The women had a more successful meet, defeating all five schools and losing a weapon only once, in the epee to Haverford. After the early squad loss, the epee squad defeated both Hunter and NJIT 9-0. Saber then defeated NYU 9-0. Overall, the Judges defeated Haverford 17-10, Hunter 22-5, NJIT 22-5, NYU 20-7 and Stevens 21-6. Mattos went undefeated at 11-0. She was complemented by Nunley who was 10-1, Deborah Abiri ’16 in saber at 9-2 and Gwendolyn Mowell ’16 in epee at 10-2.
The teams will be in action this weekend at the Duke Invitational against the University of North Carolina, Temple University, Johns Hopkins University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Duke University.
