CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Brandeis fencing teams both finished runner-up at the 2014 Boston Beanpot tournament held at MIT, compiling a 2-1 record. Both squads picked up wins over host MIT and Boston College while falling to nationally-ranked Harvard squads. It marks the fourth-straight year the men came in second, while the women were runners-up for the first time since 2011.
The Brandeis men extended their winning streak to seven in a row by opening the evening with wins over the Engineers and the Eagles, both by the score of 18-9. Against MIT, the two teams split 5-4 decisions, with Brandeis taking the sabre and MIT the epee. The Judges then rolled to a 9-0 win in foil, with five different fencers picking up wins.
Against BC, the Judges swept all three weapons: 8-1 in sabre, 7-2 in epee and 6-3 in foil.
Brandeis's seven-match winning streak came to an end against No. 6-ranked Harvard, 17-10. The big story in that match was a 5-4 win by the epee squad. Sophomores Tom Hearne (Holmdel, N.J./Ranney School) and Justin Kwon (Seoul, Korea/Wasatch Acad.) each posted 2-1 records against the Crimson, while classmate Ari Feingersch (Coral Springs, Fla./J.P. Tavarella) added a fifth win.
Overall on the night, Hearne and Kwon led the Judges with six wins, matched by junior foilist Noah Berman (Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto). Juniors Ben Loft (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge) and Jess Ochs-Willard (Montclair, N.J./Montclair) added five wins in sabre competition.
On the women's side, Brandeis earned their two wins by the narrowest of margins, 14-13. The team opened up against MIT and it marked the second time in a span of three days that the Judges defeated the Engineers by just one point. Similar to their showdown at the Duke Invitational, it was the foil squad who helped Brandeis prevail, with a 6-3 victory as MIT won sabre and epee by 5-4 margins. Sophomore Caroline Mattos (Cumberland, R.I./LaSalle Acad.) won all three of her matches by a combined 15-4 margin. Senior Vikki Nunley (Lebanon, N.J./Voorhees) went 2-1 against the Engineers and sophomore Annette Kim (Morganville, N.J. / Freehold) added a point as well.
Against BC, Brandeis also picked up their second 14-13 win of the season, with their prior victory coming in the NFC meet held on Jan. 25. This time around, the Judges and Eagles had 7-2 wins in foil and epee, respectively. The match was decided in sabre, where rookie Ashley Jean (Norwood, Mass./Fontbonne Acad.) won two bouts and three other fencers took one each to give the Judges a 5-4 victory.
Against Harvard, the Judges couldn't hang in with the #3 team in the nation, falling 22-5. Epee sophomore Sonya Glickman (Valhalla, N.Y. / Valhalla) won two of her three matches, the only Judge to take multiple points from the Crimson.
Mattos was the team's top performer once again, picking up six win in the meet by going 3-0 against MIT and BC, while Nunley and Jean had five points each and Glickman added four.
The Brandeis men close out the dual-meet season with a record of 21-7, while the women are 22-10. The Judges are next in action on Feb 22 at the New England Collegiate Championships at Mount Holyoke and the US Squad Championships at Princeton on Feb. 23.