The fencing team traveled to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Invitational last past weekend with hopes of a strong end to its season heading into the ECAC Championships. Unfortunately, both the men's and women's teams fell short in their competition against several of the top fencing programs in the country. Despite a strong effort, both squads ended the tournament with a 1-4 record, wrapping up their season with overall records of 10-10 for the women and 9-9 for the men.
"(The results were) not as strong as we'd hoped," said Head Coach Atilio Tass. "The teams in the tournament are at a different level. Their recruiting system works differently and they have a lot stronger recruiting opportunities than we do, so the levels of our opponents are a lot more experienced than our team. ... Those teams have recruiting power and an environment, that support that we do not have."
In their first match, the Bears faltered against the speed and fake attacks of the New York University fencers. The men's and women's squads were defeated 8-19 and 9-18, respectively. Women's sabre was the only Brown squad to win a segment, going 5-4 for the round.
"They were good at keeping you on your toes by doing a lot of sudden, quick motions that were very precise, but at the same time make you jump ever so slightly every time they do it," said epeeist Shauna Edson '05. "After four or five fakes they've lulled you into a false sense of security, and then boom, they're past you and you're hit."
According to Edson, All-American epeeist Ruth Schneider '06 was particularly displeased with her play against the Violets. Usually one of the team's strongest fencers, Schneider lost as many matches against NYU as she had all season. Edson said the poor first round energized Schneider, who went into the rest of the tournament determined to dominate.
The Bears failed to bounce back in their next match against the Crimson. The men's team fell to eighth-ranked Harvard 4-23, despite solid effort. The women also fell short, 5-22, in their attempt at dethroning the No. 4 Harvard women.
"We have to be able to shake off previous losses and fence each bout like it's the first of the day," Edson said. "We can't get bogged down in being discouraged or frustrated about things we could have done in other bouts. We have to just gather what energy we have and keep fighting. That can be hard to do when you're coming off a bad loss."
The Bears fared better in the match against the University of Pennsylvania. Despite an overall loss of 7-20 for the women and 8-19 for the men, two of the Bears' squads were victorious over the Quakers. Men's sabre ended its match 5-4, while Schneider led her epee squad to a 5-4 victory. Schneider, who had in the previous round defeated Harvard's number-one female epeeist, long-time rival Jasmine McGlade, 5-2, went 11-4 for the tournament.
The win over McGlade was especially important to Schneider, who had faced her five times previously, winning only once.
"She absolutely tore Jasmine apart when they fenced the last bout of that round," Edson said. "It wasn't enough to get us a victory over Harvard, but it was such a beautiful bout and so satisfying to watch that we really didn't care."
In the last two matches of the tournament, the men and women shared split victories.
The women lost to Cornell 8-19, but defeated the University of North Carolina 14-13. With women's epee and sabre ending their matches 7-2 and 4-5 against UNC, respectively, the foil squads battled for the victory all the way to the last bout. Foil anchor Jennifer Hausmann '07 ended the 13-13 tie with a hard-fought win against UNC's last fencer.
"She often ends up being our saving grace, since foil is usually the last weapon to finish," Edson said. "So if the other squads have it tied up 13-13, we don't tell her we need her to win it for us, but then we descend on her with cheers and hugs once she comes through for us."
On the other strip, men's epee, foil and sabre squads defeated Yeshiva University 5-4, 9-0, and 7-2, respectively. Despite the easy victory, the men could not build any momentum off of it, and fell to UNC 12-15.
Setting the losses of the tournament aside, the Bears now gear up to send their full team to the post-season tournaments.
"Overall we did very well," Tass said. "It's just that yesterday was not our day. The tournament here at home turned out to be fantastic. And the tournaments of the last semester all ended up in a very positive note, so we had a winning record. And that shows that we are in the right track. We are looking forward to repeat our good performance of the season into the championships," Tass said.
The fencers return home to the OMAC Saturday, Feb. 26 for the second time this season to host the ECAC Championships.
