The Brandeis fencing teams headed over to nearby Boston College in Chestnut Hill, MA this past weekend to compete in the second Northeast Fencing Conference (NFC) tournament of the season. Both the men and the women posted winning records, each going 4-2 after the competition. The Judges took on opponents from Brown University, Tufts University, Vassar College, Drew University, Dartmouth College and the hosts from Boston College. Overall, both squads came out on top against Tufts, Vassar and Dartmouth in league matches, as well as winning against Drew in a non-conference showdown. The men and the women fell to both Brown and Boston College, who are likely to finish first and second in the NFC.
Against the Jumbos from Tufts, the women won 15-12 and the men by a margin of 22-5. Both Brandeis squads beat Vassar 18-9, while the men also beat Drew and Dartmouth by the same score. The women went on to defeat Drew and Dartmouth as well, by scores of 20-7 and 24-3 respectively. In the two losses, the women fell to both Brown and Boston College by a score of 11-16, while the men fell 12-15 and 6-21 respectively.
The women’s sabre team led the way with a clean sweep of all opponents, winning 6-0 in their performances. Next was men’s sabre with a final score of 5-1, followed by both foil squads posting a 4-2 record. In the men’s epee category, Brandeis split wins and losses by a margin of 3-3, and women’s epee fell 2-4 against their competition.
On the women’s side, first-year Samantha Shortall ’23 was most successful in posting 13 wins on the weekend. She swept Boston College, Tufts and Drew after going 3-0 against each school. She also beat the Rangers of Drew University by a score of 2-0. Her only loss came from the Brown Bears as she went 2-1. Jessica Gets ’20 also equaled Shortall’s number of wins, coming in with a record of 13-4. She beat all opponents from Tufts, Vassar and Drew, going 3-0 against all three institutions. She then went on to win 2-1 against the Dartmouth Big Green, and also garnered one win each against the top competition from Boston College and Brown. The rookie sabre duo of Maggie Shealy ’23 and Jessica Morales ’23 led the team to a perfect 6-0 finish. The two were able to find winning records in nine out of their 10 contests. Despite not having sabre fencers from Dartmouth to fence against, Shealy prevailed for the Judges by posting a record of 11-3. This included a 3-0 sweep against Brown, as well as going 2-1 against the trio of Boston College, Tufts and Drew. Morales also was able to sweep Vassar and Drew as well, and impressively went 2-1 against Brown.
The men’s sabre squad was also quite victorious, as sophomore Lucas Lin ’22 paced the team. He was able to go 9-3 against his varsity competition as he went undefeated against Brown and Vassar, beating both teams by a score of 3-0. He also came out on top against the Drew Rangers, as he won with a 2-1 margin. Rookie Braden Vaccari ’23 was also 12-6 on the weekend for the sabre squad. He swept his club competition from Tufts and Dartmouth by scores of 3-0, and went 2-1 against varsity opponents from Vassar and Drew. Lastly, Chris Armstrong ’20 led the way in the epee category as he recorded nine wins, five of which were against varsity competitors.
Shortall and Lin also received University Athletic Association (UAA) Athlete of the Week honors for the week of Jan. 26. This was Shortall’s first time to receive such an award, and the second for Lin.
The fencers return to the floor this Saturday, Feb. 1 as they host the Eric Sollee Invitational here at Brandeis.
