After its strong performance in the competitive Brandeis/MIT Invitational the week before, the women's fencing team looked forward to an easier meet at the Stevens Invitational in Hoboken, N.J. last Sunday. But with starting épées Caitlin Kozel '09 and Emma Larkin '11 sick and sitting out some matches, the Judges had an unexpected situation to overcomeEven with those obstacles, the women's team finished the day 4-1, with wins against Johns Hopkins University 17-10, Drew University 19-8, Stevens Institute of Technology 19-8 and Fairleigh Dickinson University 22-5 and an 18-9 loss against Temple University.

"There was less energy during the meet than I would've liked to have seen, but the fact that a lot of people on the team are sick was a contributing factor. We just tried to get through the day," captain, foil and saber Jessica Davis-Heim '09 said. "It's a point of pride to be able to win against these teams fairly handily. We just tried to take it a point at a time and understand that we have a lot more work ahead of us until the end of the season."

The saber and foil squads fenced well, with the sabers going 31-16 on the day and the foil team going 33-12, but the épée squad performed inconsistently due to Larkin's absence during the middle rounds and Kozel's during the later rounds of the meet.

"Having [Kozel] and [Larkin] out was very hard on the team because they both fence épée, but we were able to make up for their absences," captain and saber Jenny Press '09 said. "Luckily, they weren't out at the same time. If they were out at the same time, I don't think we would have fared as well,"

With some fencers out due to illness, the team relied on its depth to defeat its less experienced competition. Saber and foil Alexandra Turner '11 finished 11-4 on the day and foil Tess Woehlren '09 also took advantage of her opportunity to start, going 6-1.

"A couple of girls were a bit too much for [Turner] because they had a lot more experience, but [she] was able to take advantage of some of her weaker opponents," coach Bill Shipman said.

Shipman said the Judges' experience was the key factor in their four victories.

"Our fencers are more experienced and we recruit a little better than the other schools," he said. "We are more mobile and athletic in our fencing."

While the Judges thrived against Fairleigh Dickinson, Drew and Stevens, they experienced some difficulty against Temple.

"[Temple is] much more explosive and faster," Shipman said. "Especially with the épée squad not fencing its best, we had a hard time hanging with them. Even on our best days, we have difficulty competing against them."

"To a certain extent, we overestimated Temple," Davis-Heim added. "We could have fenced them harder and smarter. They traditionally have a very good team, so there's always a sense of apprehension going into a match against them,"

Both the women's and men's teams will next compete in the New England Championships in South Hadley, Mass. Feb. 22. The teams will return early from February break to prepare.

"Most of us are going to focus on our weaknesses so we can bring a wider variety of moves," Press said. "All of us have a few things that we do very well.