The men’s and women’s fencing teams were in exciting action this past Sunday at the Eric Sollee Invitational, hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass. The men’s side performed admirably, winning exactly half of their six matches against an elite variety of competition. The women’s team recorded an even more impressive result, claiming victories in four of the six matches. 

The men began the day by facing off with the Stevens Institute of Technology. In both the saber and foil events, the men dominated, taking each of them by a score of 8-1.  Nothing was going to stop these talented competitors. Where the squad fell short was in the epee event, in which they recorded a dismal 2-7 record. However, the performances in the saber and foil were enough to claim an 18-9 victory. 

The epee squad showed up in the Judges’ match against Duke University, while the rest of the team fell short of immense expectations in falling to the Blue Devils, 18-9. Epee narrowly edged Duke 5-4, while saber lost 3-6 and the foil team was dismantled 1-8.  They will need to work on obtaining consistency throughout their  squads.

The Judges were unable to win any of the three events in the match with New York University, falling in disappointing fashion by a total score of 19-8. 

The fourth match of the day was the most exciting for the team, as they faced off with Haverford College. All three of the events were decided by a mere point, as the Judges captured the saber and foil events 5-4 and won by a total score of 14-13. The team was able to use that momentum to completely dominate Yeshiva University. The saber squad was perfect against YU, going 9-0 during the event, while foil and epee won 7-2 and 8-1, respectively. 

However, the Judges were unable to finish the day on a strong note, falling to the New Jersey Institute of Technology by the score of 17-10. The team was able to win only one event against NJIT, which was saber by the score of 6-3. 

The women’s side was more impressive than the men on the day, winning a majority of its matches. It started as it faced off with Stevens, winning 16-11. The squad won both the foil and epee events 6-3, while falling just short in saber by the score of 4-5. Like the men, the women were thoroughly defeated by Duke, this time by a score of 25-2. They were only able to win a game apiece in both the foil and epee events. 

Additionally, like the men, the women were unable to best NYU. The Judges fell by a score of 18-9, which was magnified by a 9-0 defeat at the hands of the saber squad. However, the Judges would roll off three consecutive victories after the defeat to NYU, showing that they would not let the loss define them. 

It began with a 20-7 victory over Haverford that was punctuated by an 8-1 result in the foil event. After that, the team thrashed YU by a score of 25-2. It won 8-1 in both the saber and epee events, while it was a perfect 9-0 in foil. The last match of the day pitted the Judges against NJIT, a task the team was prepared for. The squad took the victory with an outstanding 21-5 decision.  

The men will next be in action on Wednesday, Feb. 15, as they compete in the Beanpot Tournament at Boston College, while the women will be competing first at the Fairleigh Dickinson Invitational on Saturday.