The women's and men's fencing teams were swept Sunday at the second half of the Ivy League Championship, held at Harvard. The women suffered three defeats - including a heartbreaking 14-13 loss to Cornell - while the men dropped both of their matches.
These results come on the heels of the women's 1-2 performance and the men's 0-3 showing at the first half of the Ivy League Championship at the University of Pennsylvania on Feb. 11.
The women tied for last place in the Ivy League with Yale, whom they beat at the meet two weeks ago, while the men stand alone in last place. Last year was Bruno's first in the Ivy League, and each team defeated one Ivy League opponent last year.
But Head Coach Atilio Tass dismissed the notion that this season had been disappointing.
"The team is still very young, and we are new in the Ivy League," Tass said. "We had a very good season all year long with both the men and the women, so there is no disappointment in that sense. You have to remember that we've had very positive records all over the season."
Bruno fell to tough competition. The men faced powerhouses in No. 4 Harvard and No. 7 Penn, while the woman took on the No. 3 Crimson and the No. 8 Quakers.
"We had good competition against every Ivy League opponent," Tass said. "I was going after Cornell, and we just fell short by one bout. It is very disappointing to be so close and then not be able to get it."
Epeeist and tri-captain Christine Livoti '08 and saberist Randy Alevi '10 contributed 2-1 marks against Cornell in addition to the foil squad's six wins, but it wasn't enough for the Bears.
"It was hard that it came down to be so close," said tri-captain Jennifer Hausmann '07. "We knew we could beat Cornell, but we got nervous about going into it and not performing well. I think that distracted us and prevented us from performing not as well as we could have."
Kirsten Lynch '10 topped the team with a 5-4 record on the day, followed by Alevi and saberist Deborah Gorth '09.5, who each posted 4-5 marks.
Individual results weren't as strong for the men. Saberist Dan Mahoney '07 and epeeist Adam Yarnell '10 were the only Bears to win two bouts at the meet. Eight fencers did each win a single bout against Penn, a result Mahoney attributed in part to Penn's lack of depth relative to some of the other Ivy League teams.
Mahoney was pleased with the results.
"The results weren't very pretty, but (Harvard and Penn) were strong opponents," he said. "Against the other schools we had a lot of people who were coming in without a single victory on the day. ... This was a good opportunity for people to pick up wins."
The Bears will travel to Princeton to fence at the Intercollegiate Fencing Association championship Saturday against a field that includes all of Brown's fellow Ivy League teams. This will be Brown's last meet before the NCAA Northeast Regionals, which will be held on March 11.
"This will be a great opportunity for practice for the regionals," Tass said.
While Brown was not ready to be a force in the Ivy League this year, both Hausmann and Mahoney believe the future holds great promise.
Hausmann believes the women will build on a season in which they won the Northeast Fencing Conference championship for the second year in a row.
"Every year I've seen the team get stronger and better, and I think that will continue," she said. "I was very impressed with this year's freshmen, and I'm sure next year's freshmen will be just as amazing. We should be able to do better in the Ivy League in the coming years and maintain the level of success we've had in the Northeast Fencing Conference."
Mahoney is similarly hopeful for the men.
"There are some good fencers on this team that definitely have the potential to get better results," he said. "In years past we've gotten good fencers and they keep getting better. We have fresh faces that keep pushing us to get better. We're in the position where we can move up a few spots in the Ivy standings in another year or two."
