This past weekend, in between Thanksgiving celebrations and the start of finals season, the Brandeis fencing team hosted their annual invitational to close out their 2019 season. The meet included competitors from Cornell University, St. John’s University, Yale University, Harvard University and the University of the Incarnate Word. On the men’s side, the team went 2-3, with wins over both Cornell and Incarnate Word. For the women, the weekend ended with a 1-4 record as they defeated Incarnate Word.
Overall, the men beat Cornell and Incarnate Word by the same score of 20-7, while falling to St. John’s by a margin of 6-21, Yale by a score of 5-22 and finally to Harvard 11-16. The total results for the women ended with an 18-9 win over Incarnate Word, while ultimately losing to Cornell in a 5-22 fashion, St. John’s by a score of 11-16, Yale by 6-21 margin and lastly to Harvard with a score of 8-19.
The men’s sabre squad saw the most success during the meet, as they recorded a final score of 3-2. They topped Incarnate Word, Cornell and even upset Harvard with scores of 7-2, 8-1 and 5-4 respectively. Also on the winning side was men’s foil who beat out their opponents from Incarnate Word and Cornell both by margins of 7-2. Men’s epee was also successful against the Cardinals and the Big Red, as they won 6-3 and 5-4 respectively against these two teams.
Lucas Lin ’22 went 3-0 against Harvard in the sabre category and also 2-0 against Cornell. With the same weapon, teammate Shawn Pyatetsky ’20 also went 3-0 in his matches against Cornell. Rookie Dexin Huang ’23 was undefeated in sabre against Incarnate Word, going 3-0. Charles Catino ’20 also came out on the winning side, as he defeated Harvard by a margin of 2-1 and was undefeated against Cornell, posting a score of 2-0. Lastly, first-year Ben Rogak ’23 was the sole men’s fencer to secure a win against each of the five opponents, performing his best with two wins against Cornell.
On the women’s side, Jessica Morales ’23 is continuing her impressive season by totaling the most wins for the team with a score of 7-3 overall. The breakdown includes going undefeated against St. John’s (3-0) and Yale (2-0) while also going 2-1 against Cornell. Classmate and epee-ist Paula Thornton ’23, Jessica Gets ’20 in the foil category, and sabrists Jada Harrison ’22 and Maggie Shealy ’23 all defeated Incarnate Word twice. Overall, the sabre fencers saw wins against Incarnate Word and St. John’s in a 7-2 fashion while also beating Incarnate Word in foil by the same margins.
After the tournament itself ended, the team celebrated the class of 2020, recognizing the seniors for all of their hard work and commitment to the Brandeis fencing program. The class includes Chris Armstrong ’20, Trevor Filseth ’20, Sam Chestna ’20, Catino, Ian Quin ’20, Pyatetsky, Hannah Mui ’20 and Gets.
For their performances, Lin and Morales swept the UAA’s fencing athlete of the week honors. This was Lin’s first time receiving such recognition, while this was Morales’ second.
The Judges will continue their season next year in 2020 as they take on the Philadelphia Invitational on Jan. 19.
