On Wednesday, Feb. 11, Brandeis hosted the annual Beanpot Tournament. The gym was packed with fencers from Brandeis, Harvard, Boston College and MIT.
Harvard was the champion of the tournament, going 3-0. The Judges placed second for the men, while BC took the second place spot for the women.
Brandeis men’s fencing secured a 19-8 win over Boston College, while the Boston College women’s team beat Brandeis 14-13.
The men’s team won in all three weapons against BC, going 7-2 in saber and foil and 5-4 in epee. The women won 6-3 in saber and 5-4 in foil, but couldn’t pull through in epee, losing 7-2. Brandeis saw 3-0 performances from saberist Adam Mandel ’15 and Ashley Jean ’17 in saber and foilist Noah Berman ’15.
Against MIT, Brandeis excelled in foil, going 14-13 in the men’s competition and 15-12 in women’s play. The men won 9-0, allowing one touch in nine bouts. Ethan Levy ’15 and Len Grazian ’17 each went 3-0, while Berman won two bouts and Guillermo Narvaez ’18 won one. Meanwhile, the Judges lost 5-4 in saber and 8-1 in epee. The female foilists won 7-2. Caroline Mattos ’16 and Zimeng Xue ’18 went 3-0 for the Judges. The women’s team lost in saber and epee 5-4, despite Jean’s 3-0 performance.
Harvard men won against Brandeis 18-9, though Brandeis lost by a narrow 5-4 in epee. Tom Hearne ’16 helped the Judges in epee with a 3-0 record.
The Brandeis women fell 21-6 even though the epee squad pulled out a 5-4 victory. Liz Feller ’18 went 2-1, while Shayna Lyandvert ’18 earned one win for Brandeis women’s epee. Each contributed a 5-4 win in the final round to help Brandeis beat Harvard in epee.
Overall, the top scores for Brandeis in the tournament went to Mattos (6-1) and Jean (6-3) for the women’s team and Berman (6-2), Hearne (6-3) and Mandel (6-3) for the men’s team.
The home tournament marked the team’s senior night in which Berman, Levy, Mandel, saberist Jess Ochs-Willard and saberist Jessie Kirshner were honored.
The men’s and women’s fencing team will compete again on March 8 in the NCAA Regional Championships at New York University.
