After securing 14-13 victories over Ivy League foes Cornell University and Brown University, the women's fencing team found itself in another tight match with perennial Division I powerhouse St. John's University at last Sunday's Brandeis Invitational.With the score tied at 13, saber Anna Hanley '11 won the clinching bout, just the second of nine saber victories for the Judges in the match against St. John's. The win gave the women's team its third and final victory of the afternoon, as they then fell to Yale University by the same score of 14-13. By going 3-1 on the day, the team improved its season record to 11-2 after going 2-1 at the Boston Beanpot Fencing Championship last Wednesday.

"I'm ecstatic about these wins. We haven't beaten all three of those teams in a very long time, and it's great that we only lost to Yale by one bout," foil Jessica Newhall '09 said. "Those are all [Division I] schools, and they're all really good schools in the fencing world."

The men's team lost to all three of its opponents last Sunday, falling 16-11 to Brown, 15-12 to St. John's and 17-10 against Yale. The squad is now 6-5 on the season after going 1-2 in last Wednesday's Beanpot Championship.

Coach Bill Shipman said the women's team's win over St. John's was the most impressive and unexpected. Shipman, who has coached both the men's and women's fencing teams since 1981, said he could not recall the last time the Judges defeated St. John's.

"I don't remember the last time we beat them, but it was in [the] 1990s at least," he said. "Beating them was a bit of a surprise. We stole a few bouts against their scholarship players and beat the rest of them pretty soundly. They're a big power. They have some international fencers and nationally ranked fencers, so that's a big win for us."

Shipman said the victory over Brown was also significant for the women's team. Brandeis lost six of nine saber bouts and five of nine foil bouts, but won the match on the strength of the epée squad, who won seven of their nine bouts.

"We haven't beaten Brown in a while, so it was also nice to beat one of our local rivals," Shipman said. "It was a very good day for the women and very exciting to be in close matches. Even the Yale match could have gone either way, and it shows that our women's team can fence with almost anybody, and that should give us some confidence."

On the men's side, Brandeis captured wins in just two weapons, a 5-4 epée win against Brown and a 6-3 saber win against Yale. The foil team was held out of the win column.

"I expected us to be a little better in foil. We didn't move enough and weren't accurate, but we'll work on it," Shipman said. "We gave away a few bouts in epée, giving up the lead, but we were pretty much where we expected to be in epée and saber."

One highlight for Brandeis came against St. John's in the saber matches.

Though Brandeis lost the saber round 5-4 against St. John's, Adam Austin '11 defeated rookie Daryl Homer, who is ranked No. 9 in the country by the United States Fencing Association among senior sabers in total points and No. 1 among junior sabers as of Nov. 28. Austin said experience aided his personal victory.

"I've faced him before and I know he's really fast, so my only thought going in was I don't want to let him chase me down the strip because I don't think I can outrun him," Austin said. "I was kind of nervous, but I didn't want to let that get into my head, so it was basically one deep breath and do what felt natural."

Austin said that overall he didn't feel that the squad showed its usual spirit last Sunday.

"There were a lot of really close bouts, but it didn't seem like we had the same heart as usual," he said. "I feel Brandeis fencing depends a lot on heart and the will to win and the will to keep fighting, and I don't think we had it today."

Both teams also competed at the Boston Beanpot Fencing Championships Dec. 3 at Boston College.

The women took second place for the second year in a row, again losing to defending champion Harvard University after defeating Boston College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The men also beat MIT but were not able to defend their title form a year ago, losing to Harvard and Boston College.

Both the men's and women's teams will resume competition Jan. 24 at the Northeast Conference Meet.