The men’s and women’s fencing teams took home six medals at the New England Fall Collegiate Championships, their first met of the season. The men’s sabre squad held three of the four semifinals berths in the competition—known as “The Big One”—and saw Adam Mandel ’15 win the meet for the second year in a row.

Mandel, who advanced to the finals at The Big One in all four years of his collegiate career, was unbeaten in pool play and was seeded fifth on touch differential in the knockout rounds. The senior worked his way into the finals with defeats of the tournament’s third seed, Boston College freshman Eliot Kim and top seed, Massachusetts Institute of Technology freshman Benjamin Lin. Mandel rolled over Kim 15-5 but needed a close victory to take down Lin 15-12. In the final meet Mandel faced teammate Jess Ochs-Willard ’15 and routed his classmate 15-8 for the gold medal.

Ochs-Willard improved on a third-place finish from the 2012 to 2013 season to post a career-best silver medal on Saturday.

Kyle Berney ’18 made a surprising run to the quarterfinals, where he was defeated by Ochs-Willard 15-10. Bernery was seeded 11th after the pool play and took down the No. 6 seed 15-14 to reach the quarterfinals in his first collegiate match.

“I was really nervous and lost my first bout [of pool play] but calmed down after and won the next five [matches] convincingly, [not] give up more than one touch in any of those five,” said Berney.

“Being in the final four was really nice after two close and tough bouts, and fencing the captain was expected after having so many rounds without pulling a Brandeis fencer. It was a good bout and I'm happy for Jess [Ochs-Willard] to have made the finals,” he continued.

In the men’s foil competition, Noah Berman ’15 missed a gold medal by one match, falling in the finals to Sacred Heart University junior Andrew Holmes, who earned All-American honors last year. Berman was one of three Judges to go a perfect 6-0 in pool play, alongside Len Grazin ’17 and Ethan Levy ’15. All three members of the squad were placed in the top-half of the bracket, as Levy defeated Grazin in the quarterfinals before falling to Berman 15-4 in the semifinals. Berman, who earned a berth at last year’s NCAA Championships, improved on his third-place finish from last year. 

Guillermo Narvaez ’18 picked up a 10th-place finish to cap a solid performance in the first meet of his collegiate career.

“Coach [Bill Shipman] just said that he had expectations that people would do well, and it was up to us how well we did,” said Berney. 

“He said he knew we all had the potential to succeed.”

The men’s epee squad was the only not to produce a medalist, but got an eighth-place finish from Justin Kwon ’16. 

Kwon went 4-1 in pool play with a +7 indicator, seeding him 20th in the knockout round. 

The junior rolled to a 15-6 victory in the round of 64, edged out a 15-14 win in the round of 32 and matched that with a 15-14 win in the round of 16. Kwon’s run came to a close in the round of 8 with a 15-11 defeat but finished 13 spots better than he did at last year’s meet. 

Hunter Stusnick ’18 picked up a 10th-place finish in the tournament in his first collegiate meet.

In the women’s foil competition, Caroline Mattos ’16 took home a silver medal, dropping the finals match by a 15-14 score. Mattos was seeded second in the knockout round with a perfect 6-0 record and a +27 indicator. Zimeng Xue ’18 took home an eighth-place finish at The Big One after entering the knockout round seeded 30th. 

The women’s sabre competition saw one member of the squad finish in the top 10, as Ashley Jean ’17 finished in sixth place. 

Jean entered the knockout round tied for second place with a perfect 5-0 record and a +23 indicator and went on a tear, defeating her first two opponents by 15-0 and 15-3 scores. Jean fell to the eventual silver medalist in the quarterfinals, and matched her placement from last year’s tournament.

The women’s epee team placed three competitors in a row, but could not crack the top-10, taking home 11th, 12th and 13th places. Gwendolyn Mowell ’16 entered the knockout round in 10th but fell 15-14 in the round of 16.

“Having [Mandel] and [Ochs-Willard] both be very talented fencers is a huge asset for me to improve,” said Berney.

Both squads will return to action on Nov. 15 in the first of two Northeast Fencing Conference meets, hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

—Editor’s note: Guillermo Narvaez ’18 is an editorial assistant for the Justice photography section.