The Brandeis men’s and women’s fencing teams hosted the annual meet on campus at the Brandeis Invitational. They picked up a combined two wins in ten matches among the stiff competition. Both victories belonged to the men’s team. They were victorious 17–10 in their match against Cornell and 16–11 in their game against Incarnate Word. The team lost to St John’s University 19–8. 

The team was also defeated by Yale 4–3. North Carolina ousted them 15–12.  The men’s team finished 2–3 that day to bring their record to 7–3 overall on the season. 

The women’s team lost all five bouts to post a 0–5 record on the day. They lost to St. Johns by a score of 20–7, Cornell by a score of 18–9, Yale by a score of 18-9, Incarnate Word by a score of 16-11 and North Carolina by a score of 23–4. This dropped their overall record to 6–6 on the season. Although their overall record may not have reflected it, individual fencers and weapons still performed well.

Men’s Foil

The men’s foil was the best weapon of the day for either team. Led by captain Ian Quin ’20, the squad won four out of their five matches. They defeated UNC and UIW 7–2, were victorious over Cornell 6–3 and were 5–4 winners against St. Johns.

Men’s Saber

Men’s saber won three of their five matches, including two dominating 8–1 wins over Cornell and Incarnate Word.

Women’s Saber

For the women’s team, the saber squad picked up a couple of wins over Yale and UIW, 6–3 each. 

Men’s Individual

On an individual level, the team had some standout players in the tournament. Quin went 9-3 in his four matches. He was a perfect 3–0 against fencers from St. Johns, Incarnate Word, and Cornell, and dropped all three bouts versus Yale. For the men’s saber, Lucas Lin ’22 was the team’s top performer with a 5–2 record. He was 3–0 versus Cornell and 2–1 versus UNC. Men’s epee had six wins and Chris Armstrong ’20 was the top performer, being responsible for four of them. 

Women’s Individual

On the women’s team, Joanne Carminucci ‘19 finished with a record over .500 in women’s foil. Her 8–7 record topped the women’s team for victories and was second on the team only to Quin. Women’s saber was paced by Jada Harrison ’22 who won five bouts. For women’s epee, Madeline Vibert had four wins to lead the weapon. 

In terms of meets, the Judges are off for the remainder of the semester. 

Next January the team will have a busy month, as they are traveling to the Colorado Springs to participate in the Western Invitational hosted by the US Airforce Academy. Following that, they will visit Brown University to take part in the Northeast Conference Meet 2. 

In February, the team will fence in the Eric Sollee Invitational on the 3rd. Following that, on the 13th, the team will face local rivals MIT, BC, and Harvard in the Beanpot tournament.

 

In March, the team will participate in the NCAA regionals march, then select fencers will compete in the NCAA national tournament against fencers from all collegiate levels. 

In an interview with captain Quin, he explained, "Our top goals are to win conference for a third year in a row and to qualify some individuals for the NCAA Championship in March. Beyond simply succeeding against opponents, we’ll continue to improve our game and push past our limits to compete on the highest levels collegiate Fencing has to offer." Quin also told the Justice that, "Fencing isn’t like other sports, it’s simply you against your opponent and no one else. But this just means you have to rely upon your teammates even more. They’re the ones in practice helping you get better and pushing you to excel. Without them, I wouldn’t have the mental or physical support I would need to compete at the level I do."