This is the first season in which the fencing team will compete in the typical home for Brown's varsity sports teams - the Ivy League. As such, one could have forgiven the Bears if they were looking a bit past Saturday's second and final Northeast Fencing Conference meet of the season.
However, that forgiveness need not be wasted on the Brown fencers. With a clinching victory against Brandeis University by foilist Nanette Milner '06, the women's squad completed its sweep of the two conference competitions, going 5-0 to finish with a 10-0 record and a conference title.
"The awesome part was that a lot of people on the team had no idea (we'd won)," said captain Ruth Schneider '06. "It definitely speaks to our improvement as a team."
Schneider, an All-American epéeist, was stellar as usual, going undefeated in the meet. Her epée squad led the way against Dartmouth in the day's opening opponent, sweeping all nine matches. Brown followed its triumph over the Big Green with 16-11 victories over traditional rivals from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston College and a 22-5 thrashing of Smith College, using mostly subs, before locking up the championship against Brandeis.
On the men's side, the Bears split their four matches, finishing with a 6-2 conference record. Opinions on the Bears' performance differed. Head Fencing Coach Atilio Tass expressed satisfaction with his team's performance.
"(The men's team is) always expecting the best of themselves," he said. "They had incredible matches and I'm proud of them."
But some members of the team felt they could have performed better against MIT and Brandeis in their two losses.
"We were a little dis-appointed because we were hoping to do a little better," said saberist Dan Mahoney '07. "We lost to Brandeis, who we had beaten previously. We had higher expectations."
Now Brown's fencing squads turn their attention to their first-ever Ivy League competitions Sunday, held at Cornell. Both teams will square off against Columbia and Princeton, with the women also competing against the host Big Red, who only field a women's squad. Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and Yale are on the slate for the following weekend at Columbia.
The Ancient Eight is the premier fencing conference in the country, so while the Bears have one of their strongest teams in recent memory, they will have to temper their expectations for the rest of the season.
"You have to consider that this is the first time we're fencing in this league," Tass said. "The most important thing is to go in and learn from the experience, which will help at New England and IFAs."
While the competition will be much improved from the NFC, each team can take inspiration out of its results from its old conference.
"I think it helps to know we have had success at this level. It's a boost to morale. If we can win here, we can win in the Ivy League too," Schneider said.
