CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – The Brandeis University fencing teams closed out their Northeast Fencing Conference schedule today at Boston College. The men went 5-1 on the day to finish their NFC season with a 10-1 record, good for second place behind BC. The women were 4-2 on the day to finish at 10-3. They will finish in third place behind BC and Brown. In the combined standings, the Judges finished in second place behind BC with 20 wins to the Eagles' 21.
TEAM RECORDS
- Brandeis Men: 12-7, 10-1 NFC
- Brandeis Women: 12-10, 10-3 NFC
In today's action, Brandeis opened against host BC. The Judges won four of six individual weapons in the two matches, taking both sabre and epee by 5-4 scores. Boston College won both foil matches, 6-3 on the women's side to clinch a 14-13 victory, and 7-2 on the men's side for a 15-12 win.
Both Brandeis teams won their next four matches, defeating Tufts (M: 18-9; W: 15-12); Dartmouth (M: 22-5; W: 21-6); Vassar (M: 18-9; W: 18-9) and Drew (M: 18-9; W: 21-6). In the final match of the day, the Judges split with MIT. The men took a 15-12 decision from the Engineers thanks to a 7-2 margin in saber that overcame two 5-4 losses in the other weapons. On the women's side, it was MIT emerging with the 15-12 win. Brandeis got another 7-2 win in sabre, but MIT won epee, 8-1, and foil, 5-4.
The Brandeis sabre squads continued their excellent seasons, with both going 6-0 on the day. The men improved to 18-1 overall, while the women are now 16-6. The men's foil and men's epee squads both went 4-2 on the afternoon, while women's foil and epee were each 3-3.
Senior sabre All-American Maggie Shealy (Chapel Hill, N.C./Chapel Hill East) had the team's best overall record, going a perfect 18-0, while first-year Kat Xikes (Winchester, Mass. / Winchester) was 14-4. First-year Hannah Du (Winchester, Mass. / Winchester) topped the foil squad with a 12-4 mark, while sophomore Bronwyn Rothman-Hall (San Francisco, Calif. / Ruth Asawa School of the Arts) went 9-6 to lead the epeeists, earning at least one win against all five opponents she faced.
For the men, four different Judges contributed eight wins on the day. Junior Berwyn Lu (Atlanta, Ga. / Lovett School) led the sabre squad at 8-4; first-years Sam Choun (Hoover, Ala. / The Altamont School) and Michael Yerokhin (Paramus, N.J. / Paramus) went 8-1 and 8-2 in foil action, respectively; and sophomore Tal Kronrod (Concord, Mass. / Concord Carlisle) was 8-5 for the epee squad. Seven-win days were turned in by sabre first-year Lev BenAvram (Bethesda, Md./Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School) and sophomore Tony Escueta (Grand Prairie, Texas / Abeka Home School Academy) and sophomore epee fencer Mark Shamis (San Jose, Calif. / Leigh).
The Brandeis women have their annual mid-week match at Wellesley on Tuesday at 6 p.m., while the whole squad is next in action at the Eric Sollee Invitational next Sunday at MIT. That tournament will include the Judges' annual meeting with University Athletic Association rivals NYU.