Shealy goes unbeaten, men drop narrow decision to BC at Beanpot

Maggie Shealy '23 (Photo by Sportspix.com)
Maggie Shealy '23 (Photo by Sportspix.com)

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Brandeis fencing teams competed at Harvard in the annual Beanpot Tournament on Wednesday evening. With matches running long and a Northeast Fencing Conference match on the horizon, the Judges only met host Harvard and Boston College. The closest match of the night was between the Brandeis men and BC, with the Eagles taking a 14-13 decision. BC won the women's match, 19-8. Both Harvard matches were decided by 21-6 scores.

Junior Maggie Shealy (Chapel Hill, N.C./East Chapel Hill) led the way for the women, going undefeated at 6-0 on the evening in saber. First-year squadmate Kayla Turnof (Westfield, N.J. / Kent Place School) picked up a win in each match, as the sabre squad dropped two 4-5 decisions. Junior Monica Aponte (San Juan, P.R. / St. John's School) and first-year Angela Shi (Jericho, N.Y. / Jericho) picked up two wins – one against each opponent – in epee, while junior Sammy Shortall (Norwell, Mass. / Norwell) earned a point for the foil squad against BC.

On the men's side, the saber squad picked up the lone squad win of the meet, rolling over BC, 8-1. First-year Tony Escueta (Grand Prairie, Texas / Abeka Home School Academy) continued his fine season, going 3-0 against the Eagles while also picking up a win over Harvard for a team-high four wins on the evening. First-year Joy Qui (Guangzhou City, China / Roselle Catholic (N.J.) added three wins in the BC match, while senior Lucas Lin (Plano, Texas / Plano West) was 2-1. First-year epee fencer Tal Kronrod (Concord, Mass. / Concord-Carlisle) posted three win on the night, going 2-1 against BC and 1-1 against Harvard. Junior epeeists Ben Rogak (East Setauket, N.Y. / Ward-Melville) and Josh Shuster (Brooklyn, N.Y./Staten Island Tech) had one win each against both opponents. Sophomore Luke Ritchie (Baltimore, Md. / St. Paul's School) and first-year Alexander Ma (Westford, Mass. / Westford Academy) posted one win each for the foil squad.

The Judges return to action this weekend with the first of two Northeast Fencing Conference meets, which will be held at MIT on Saturday.