WALTHAM, Mass. – Three members of the Brandeis University fencing team will represent the Judges at the 2013 NCAA National Collegiate championships in San Antonio, Texas, on March 21-24. The Judges will be one of three Division III schools with three fencers at the meet, representing Brandeis's largest contingent at the NCAA championships since 2009.

      Making his third-straight NCAA championship appearance is junior foil fencer Julian Cardillo of Medford, Mass. Cardillo, who spent the fall semester studying abroad in Italy, returned to collegiate fencing in January and posted a 25-12 record in dual meets. Cardillo finished the season by winning the New England Intercollegiate Fencing Championship (NEIFC) at Brandeis. At the NCAA Northeast Regional qualifier on March 10 at St. John's University, Cardillo was seeded 14^th. He went 4-2 in the first round to advance in the second position from his pool. He went 3-3 in the second round, claiming the 12th and final spot in the finals on total number of touches. With five wins in the final round, including handing regional champion Brian Kanishige of Harvard his only loss of the finals, 5-4, Cardillo claimed seventh place overall and the sixth qualifying position. Cardillo is the first Brandeis fencer to reach three-straight NCAA championships since Will Friedman '09, who went four years in a row, also in foil.

      Rookie Caroline Mattos of Providence, R.I., will make her first appearance in the women's foil competition. Mattos posted a 58-13 record in dual meets, the most wins on the team. She placed second at the NEIFC meet at Brandeis and was seeded 10^th headed into regionals. Mattos went 4-2 in the opening round of pool play to advance. In the second round, she was even better, going 5-1, to move into the finals in the fourth position. Mattos posted a 5-6 record in the Final 12, with wins over the fourth-place finisher, Marta Hausman of St. Johns, plus opponents from Yale, Cornell (twice) and Brown to finish seventh overall and in the sixth qualifying position. She is the first Brandeis woman to qualify for nationals since 2009 and the first women's foil since 1996 (Kristin Foellmer Suchorski '96).

      Sophomore sabre fencer Adam Mandel of White Plains, N.Y., was the Judges' top-seeded fencer entering the meet, going in fifth after posting a 42-9 dual-match record and winning the NEIFC title. Mandel survived the opening round at regionals with a 3-2 record. He improved to 4-2 in the second round to take the seventh spot into the finals. Mandel picked up three additional wins in the finals, including a 5-4 win over two-time NCAA champion, eventual regional champion and U.S. Olympian Darryl Homer of St. John's, 5-4. He also beat foes from Yale and Brown to earn the ninth and final qualifying position from the Northeast Region. He is Brandeis's first sabre fencer at nationals since 2009 (Adam Austin '11).