Both the men’s and women’s fencing teams hosted a plethora of opposing teams this past weekend during the annual Brandeis Invitational. The Judges faced some challenging competition, only finding two wins over ten matches. Both of these wins came on the men’s side, as they finished 2-3 by the end of the tournament, while the women went 0-5. This gives the men a 7-3 record through this point in the season, while the women meet the .500 mark as they fall to 6-6 overall.
The Judges edged Cornell 17-10 and Incarnate Word 16-11 on the men’s side, with these being their two victories during the invitational. They fell to St. John’s in a 19-8 fashion, to Yale with a score of 24-3 and to North Carolina on a 15-12 mark.
On the women’s side, Brandeis could not overcome the competition staged by their opponents, being defeated by St. John’s with a score of 20-7, by Cornell and Yale both in an 18-9 fashion, by Incarnate Word with a score of 12-11 and finally swept by North Carolina in a 23-4 outcome.
In the foil classification, the men found some success, only losing one match out of their five overall. They therefore garnered the highest winning percentage for the Judges during the meet, winning 7-2 over both North Carolina and Incarnate Word, beating Cornell 6-3 and winning a close match against St. John’s by a slim margin of 5-4. Both the men and women’s saber squads also performed well, with the former getting wins over Cornell and Incarnate Word both in an 8-1 fashion, and the latter defeating both Yale and Incarnate Word with scores of 6-3.
From an individual standpoint, it was Ian Quin ’20 of the men’s foil team who shined. He ended the meet with a 9-3 record over four matches, sweeping St. John’s, Incarnate Word and Cornell with scores of 3-0, but losing to Yale by the same margins. Rookie Lucas Lin ’22 also had an impressive performance to lead the saber squad, finishing with a record of 5-2 as he swept Cornell and beat North Carolina 2-1.
On the epee side, Chris Armstrong ’20 reigned in the majority of the wins, accounting for four out of the squad’s six. Captain Joanne Carminucci ’19 had the best day for the women, ending with a record of 8-7. For saber, it was rookie Jada Harrison ’22 that lead the way, scoring five points. Lastly, in women’s epee, Madeleine Vibert ’21 totaled four points for the team.
When the Judges return from winter break in 2019, they will fly out to Colorado Springs for their next matches, taking on the United States Air Force Academy and others in the Western Invitational.
