This year’s Eric Sollee Invitational tournament took place at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as both the men and women’s fencing teams posted impressive records of 5-1 at the meet. 

The men’s only loss came at the hands of New York University while the women lost to Duke University, but overall both teams had a strong showing in a very competitive meet. The men’s side was led by Adam Mandel ’15 and Jess Ochs-Willard ’15, as Mandel earned the winning point against Duke and went undefeated against upstart New Jersey Institute of Technology, while Ochs-Willard posted a 2-1 record against Duke and an identical 3-0 record against NJIT. 

Foilist Noah Berman ’15 also added his own perfect record on the day to contribute to the victory over the NJIT Highlanders.  

Unfortunately, the positive start to the day was marred with the loss to the NYU Violets, the only team that had defeated the Judges in the Sollee Invitational hosted at Brandeis last spring and was a further measure of revenge after the Judges’ swept a head-to-head meet on Saturday. 

The Judges took epee by a score of 5-4 but NYU claimed foil by the same score. Mandel won two sabre bouts, but it was not enough as the Judges fell 6-3 in epee, yielding a 12-15 overall loss. 

“It was satisfying to beat a top-10 team in Duke, and edge NJIT's rapidly improving squad, but the team as a whole was unsatisfied with the day because of the loss to NYU,” said Ochs-Willard. 

“We went into the day with the goal of winning every meet, and when you don't meet your goal it's hard to be content with the smaller victories,” he continued.

The Judges enjoyed positive performances from the whole roster, as Berman and epeeists Tom Hearne ’16 and Hunter Stusnick ’18 all went 2-1 against NYU. Ethan Levy ’15 and Guillermo Narvaez ’18 came up with clutch foil wins to complete the revenge match against Duke after losing to the No. 9 ranked team two weeks prior at the United States Air Force Academy’s Western Invitational. 

Rookie Kyle Berney ’18 also posted a 2-1 record to help edge the Highlanders in the last match of the day. 

The Judges also defeated NYU in a scrimmage at home on Saturday by a score of 16-11, but could not complete the two-day sweep. 

On the women’s side, saberist Nina Sayles ’17 led the charge, posting an astounding 18-3 record on the weekend between the invitational and the scrimmage against NYU the day before.  

Sayles went 3-0 on saber against NYU along with sabre Deborah Abiri ’16. Caroline Mattos ’16 matched their mark on foil as the Judges cruised to a victory over the Violets. 

However, the Duke Blue Devils proved to be too strong for the Judges as they fell by a score of 18-9 despite Gwen Mowell ’16 posting a 2-0 record in epee. 

Sonya Glickman ’16 and Liz Feller ’18 also had solid weekends for the Judges each going 3-0 in the scrimmage against NYU. While the men were tested against the likes of NJIT, Duke and NYU, they cruised to wins over Stevens, Haverford College and Yeshiva University. 

The women thrashed Stevens, NJIT, Haverford and Yeshiva, winning all nine weapons over the last three rounds. 

On Saturday the Judges welcomed the  NYU violets to Brandeis for a one-on-one matchup. The men excelled in saber against the violets, going undefeated with a 9-0 record.

The womens’ best event also came in saber with a 7-2 record.

Both teams are back in action on Wednesday, Feb. 11, hosting the annual Boston Beanpot tournament, where the Judges will square off against Boston College, Harvard University and MIT. 

—Editor’s Note: Guillermo Narvaez ’18 is a staff member for the Justice photos section.