The women's fencing team clinched the Northeast Fencing Conference title for the second year in a row by defeating all five conference teams they faced at the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center. The men went 3-2 against conference opponents, leaving them in second place in the NFC behind Brandeis University. The final NFC ranking for the men will not be known until the completion of the last NFC competition. The Bears will not be participating in that event.
Even with their overall strong performance, the women faced a stiff challenge from Brandeis before prevailing 15-12.
"It was really exciting," said Jennifer Hausmann '07. "Deborah Gorth ('09) won the bout that put us to 14. Everyone fenced really well."
The team had significantly more breathing room in its other matches. The Bears looked strong, trouncing each of their five opponents by at least nine bouts. Brown defeated Boston College, 19-8, Dartmouth, 22-5, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 18-9, Sacred Heart University, 22-5, and non-conference guest University of Florida, 24-3.
The women's team was led by its sabre squad, which went 38-7 in all its matches on the day. The epee squad was almost as dominant, going 33-12. The women's foil squad pulled out an respectable 25-20 record.
Standout individual performers included Gorth, 13-2 on the day, Randy Alevi '10, 12-2, and Gartenberg, 12-3, on the saber. Christine Livoti '08 was 12-2 with the epee, and foilist Kirsten Lynch '10 went 12-3.
The men's team had a tougher day, losing to Boston College, 14-13, and Brandeis, 16-11. But it defeated Dartmouth, 20-7, MIT, 14-13, Florida, 21-6, and Sacred Heart, 16-11. The victory over MIT was important for the Bears because the Engineers entered the meet tied for first place with Brown.
The foilists led the way for the men Jeremy Zeitlin '07 went 10-2 and Nick Bender '09 went 9-3 leading the foil squad while Dan Mahoney '07 went 9-4 on the saber.
"The men did a good job hanging in," Hausmann said.
Entering the home meet, both teams enjoyed some momentum from their success in the previous NFC meet, held Nov. 19 at MIT. The women swept their six matches that day without dropping a round while the men went 4-0.
The Bears will compete at the MIT Invitational next Sunday in preparation for their first Ivy League Competition of the year, which will be held Feb. 11 at the University of Pennsylvania. Defeating Ivy League competitors is the next big challenge looming on the calendar.
"We had fun," Tass said of the beginning of the season. However, he said the team will be more focused with the approaching Ivy League season. "Now we have to work hard," he said.
