St. John's University senior Daryl Homer finished in sixth place in men's individual saber at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. He was undefeated on the season heading into last weekend's Brandeis Invitational.

One thing he doesn't have on his r?(c)sum?(c)-a victory against saber Adam Mandel '15.

Mandel upset Homer in the first bout of the round, out touching the Olympian 5-2 for a stunning upset, one of several standout performances for the men's and women's fencing teams.

The men's team finished 1-3, defeating Johns Hopkins University but falling to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, St. John's and Yale University. The women went 2-3, closing with victories against Yale and Johns Hopkins after losing to Cornell University, UNC and St. Johns.

"It went better than we expected," captain Zoe Messinger '13 said. "We faced some very difficult schools. We just wanted to represent our home turf, and we definitely did that."

"Although our record was 1-3 on paper, it was a very good day of fencing," added fellow captain Michael Zook '13. "With a few bouts going the other way or having someone like [foil] Julian [Cardillo '14] back, we easily could have been 3-1."

Cardillo, one of the conference's top foils, is studying abroad in Rome this fall, but will be back on the team next semester.

The women started things off for the Judges, dropping an 18-9 decision to Cornell. The Judges won both saber and foil, but a 7-2 loss in ?(c)p?(c)e clinched the match for the Big Red.

The men started strongly against UNC, with saber winning 6-3 before losses in ?(c)p?(c)e and foil gave UNC a 14-13 win. Mandel and foil Noah Berman '15 led the way, each picking up three wins of their seven total wins in the match. Saber Ben Loft '15 also impressed, picking up a victory against UNC captain Adam Austin, a junior.

"[Loft] fenced unbelievably against their captain," Mandel said. "Throughout the day, he was fencing very consistently."

The women lost 16-11 to UNC. Foil Caroline Mattos '16 led the Judges, winning all three of her bouts against the Tar Heels.

Both the men and women lost 21-6 to St. Johns, but it was Mandel who stole the show with his victory against Homer. The two have trained together at the Manhattan Fencing Club in New York City for the last three years, but it was their first time competing against each other in NCAA action.

"[Homer] is an unbelievable fencer and I tremendously respect him," Mandel said. "It can go any way on any given day, and it happened to go my way. I was able to see his actions clearly today and use my footwork and athleticism to my advantage."

"It's a testament to how dedicated he is and how prepared he is," Zook said of Mandel. "He's had this bout on his calendar for a few weeks now. He was ready to go out there and get the result, and he did that."

The Judges next squared off against Yale, where the two sides split a couple of 14-13 decisions. Behind a 6-3 decision in saber, the Brandeis women pulled out the victory against the Bulldogs. Messinger led the squad, picking up victories in all three of her bouts.

On the men's side, a 6-3 victory in saber wasn't enough, as Yale took a 6-3 win in foil to even things up before winning the decisive bouts in ?(c)p?(c)e. Mandel again won all three of his bouts, while ?(c)p?(c)e Harry Kaufer '13 won both of his appearances.

"Yale has been very competitive in the Ivy League recently, so I was really pleased with how we competed," Zook said. "The referee was the Harvard head coach, and he came up to us after and said 'you guys fenced unbelievably.'"

Both squads took home victories against Johns Hopkins to close out the day. The men defeated the Blue Jays 17-10 behind a triple winner in each of the three weapons. Loft swept his bouts in saber, Berman continued his fine day with three wins in foil and Tom Hearne '16 did the honors in ?(c)p?(c)e.

"We were tired of losing by the time we faced Johns Hopkins," Zook said. "Everybody fenced really well against them."

The women took a 15-12 victory against Johns Hopkins. The squad was led by two rookie ?(c)p?(c)es-Sophia Glickman and Alexis Gremillion-both of whom won all three of their bouts.

The Judges are off until 2013, but both Messinger and Mandel said that the team will use the break to fix a few flaws and come back even stronger.

"It mentally prepares us," Messinger said. "It teaches us that we really have to focus a lot more."

"We came in very confident, maybe a little too confident," Mandel said. "By the [Jan. 26, 2013] meet at Brown [University] we will have become a much stronger squad."