Brandeis fencing had a disappointing day in the New England Conference at Brown University Saturday, as the men and women finished third and fourth place respectively in the five-team tournament. The men are 10-5 on the season, while the women are 10-7.The men finished with a record of 2-2, defeating Boston College 21-6 and Dartmouth College 18-9, while falling to MIT 15-12 and to Brown 16-11. Captain Benji Rostoker '05 led the men with a strong 8-1 effort in the foil, while Kai Keller '07 went 9-2 in the epee.

The women continued their recent struggles with a record of 1-3 on Saturday and have now lost three straight. The Judges fell to BC 17-10, MIT 21-6 and Brown by 14-13, while salvaging their only victory against Dartmouth 18-9. The women's efforts in the foil continued to be a bright spot for the team as Stefanie Aucoin '08 went 10-2 and Chantal Dewey '07 was 9-3.

After the men started off with easy wins over BC and Dartmouth, the tides turned for the worse against MIT. The Engineers got off to an early lead and beat Brandeis captain Jeremy Simpson '07 in the foil, and a dramatic comeback by Keller in the epee fell short as MIT prevailed in an intense and emotional match. The men were clearly fatigued in their final loss of the day against Brown.

"It was very hard for us to fence well against Brown following our emotional match against MIT," Coach Bill Shipman said. "We put a lot of effort and emotional expense into every bout. On a day like this when we face [four teams], the challenge of endurance is not as much physical as it is mental."

Rostoker was satisfied with another strong fencing day on his part, but expressed disappointment with his loss to Brown sophomore Jeremy Zeitlin at the end of the day, with whom he has an ongoing rivalry.

"I am looking forward to meeting them again," Rostoker said. "We are used to having these long meets. However, usually the harder matches are spaced out."

Captain Deb Model '06 expressed a positive attitude about the women's team despite their defeat.

"I am very proud of the team because of their hard work and their effort," Model said. "Winning is not everything as most people say."

"Overall it was a good day of fencing," Shipman said. "Hopefully this kind of experience will pay off for us later on in the postseason."

The Judges' next competition is the MIT/Brandeis Invitational in Cambridge Sunday at 10 a.m, a full-day tournament with teams such as Duke and North Carolina.