Although she admitted she was unsure of what to expect against the unfamiliar competition at last weekend's Duke University Invitational in Durham, N.C., captain and foil Stefanie Aucoin '08 helped the women's fencing team prove it could compete with some of the top teams in the country.

With the score tied at 13 in the Judges' match against Duke, Aucoin rebounded from a pivotal loss earlier in the match to win the clinching bout 5-1, leading the Judges to a 14-13 victory in a match they had trailed 13-11 with three bouts to go.

The win enabled the women's team to finish with a 3-2 record, as they also beat the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 16-11 and the U.S. Air Force Academy 18-9 while losing to the University of North Carolina 20-7 and Temple University 21-6. The Judges' record is now 18-7 on the season.

"I thought I lost the whole match for everyone by losing my bout with the score tied at 11, and I had to try and get up and win 14-13," Aucoin said. "It was such a nerve-wracking situation."

The men's team continued its struggles from last weekend's Brandeis/MIT Invitational, finishing 2-3 with losses to Johns Hopkins 18-9, North Carolina 16-11 and Duke 14-13 and wins over MIT 20-7 and Air Force 16-11. They are now 18-5 this season.

Duke challenged the women's team throughout their match. With a 13-11 lead, the Blue Devils were primed to hand Brandeis their third loss of the day, but foils Jessica Newhall '09 and Jess Davis-Heim '09 helped the Judges tie the score with convincing 5-0 victories in each of their bouts.

That left Aucoin with a chance to complete the comeback against Duke senior Marilyn Tycer. Aucoin got a quick 3-1 lead, and Tycer called a timeout to regroup. It didn't help, however, as Aucoin got two quick touches following the timeout to earn the 5-1 victory.

"She pretty much trashed the girl in the last bout for the victory," coach Bill Shipman said.

The scheduling format of all the matches, which enabled the Judges to have their foil team, arguably the strongest of their three weapons, fence last, was an advantage against Duke but proved to be an obstacle in losses to Temple and North Carolina. In both of those matches, the Judges fell too far behind after the saber and epée bouts for the foil team to make up the deficit.

"If teams are uneven, it really puts you in a big hole that's hard to make up. It was difficult with saber being our most inexperienced weapon," Shipman said. "We got behind early because we could not alternate between our strong and weak weapon to even out the score."

Newhall also said the Judges' 20-7 margin of defeat to North Carolina was deceiving because they lost many bouts by a 5-4 margin.

The men's team entered the tournament with just two match losses all season, but they met that total very early in the tournament.

"I think we started a bit slow and lackadaisical," epée Will Bedor '10 said. "I think we were a little bit too confident at first, thinking we could beat anybody. We got a reality check when the first two teams beat us pretty handily."

Like their female counterparts, the men's foil squad, led by captain Eugene Vortsman '08 and his 12-2 record, had to carry the team throughout the tournament thanks to the struggles of the epée and saber squads. In particular, the Judges' loss to Duke spoiled the foil team's 7-2 record.

"It was difficult to match up against Duke because saber and epée fenced at the same time, and it put a lot of pressure on foil," Vortsman said. "We won 7-2, but we could only lose one bout."

The epée team, seen earlier in the year as the Judges' strongest weapon, fared well in Brandeis' two victories but did not come through against North Carolina and Duke, while the young saber squad's struggles constantly put the Judges behind early in the matches.

"We think they will all be good fencers, but right now they are a little bit intimidated," Shipman said of the sabers.

Both teams next compete in the New England Championships Saturday at noon.