Last Saturday at the Brandeis University Invitational, Brandeis hosted Haverford College, Yale University, St. John's University, Brown University and Cornell University. The men took a 1-3 record at the event, falling to 5-4 on the season, while the women went 2-3 and are now 7-4 overall.Cornell does not have a men's fencing team, and thus only the women's team faced Cornell.

The men's team's first match was against St. John's, and Brandeis lost 22-5. The fencers battled in saber, falling 5-4, while in foil they were defeated 8-1. They were swept 9-0 in épée.

Against Brown, Brandeis lost 14-13, winning 7-2 in épée and 5-4 in saber but losing 8-1 in foil.

Brandeis also lost its meet against Yale by a score of 16-11. The team won 6-3 in saber but lost 7-2 in foil and 6-3 in épée.

The men took their only victory of the day against Haverford, winning the match 15-12. Brandeis lost 5-4 in foil but defeated Haverford in both saber and épée, winning by scores of 6-3 and 5-4, respectively.

Saber Ben Schmidt '14 thought that the team fought well despite its record.

"Overall, I think today was a strong effort," he said. "We could have done better. We really pulled together at the end."

Schmidt also said that fighting shorthanded played a role in the team's struggles this weekend.

"We were suffering from some illness, and there were some injuries," he said.

Lucas Gelwarg '13, a saber on the team, also thought that the team did well against tough competition.

"We had St. John's first, which is one of the best fencing teams," he said. "After that, the team started to rally around Adam [Austin] '11 and Jon Rollock '11, and they did a good job of pumping up the team and we showed a lot of good effort against Brown. It carried over to the meet after the lunch break, to the Yale and Haverford meets. We showed a lot of effort after the St. John's meet."

"It's hard coming off of Thanksgiving, but coach [Bill Shipman] kept it the same as usual, and we brought the same intensity that we bring to practice," he added.

Gelwarg also said sickness was a major factor for the team.

"Sean Norton '12 was sick for the first half of the day, . but he was able to come back," he said. "It was good that he was able to come back, because he's a great leader for the foil squad and for the whole team."

The women's team defeated Haverford by a score of 18-9 and Brown by a score of 15-12 to open the meet. Against Haverford, the women won 8-1 in saber and 6-3 in épée, only dropping the foil bouts by a score of 5-4. The women swept Brown in saber, earning victories in all nine matches, but lost 7-2 in foil and 5-4 in épée. Brandeis' prowess in saber, however, was enough to carry them to victory.

The women lost their three meets against St. John's, Yale and Cornell. Against St. John's, Brandeis was defeated 18-9, losing in saber (7-2), foil (6-3) and épée (5-4).

The team played a tight meet against Yale and was narrowly defeated 14-13. Brandeis lost 6-3 in foil and 5-4 in épée but took a 6-3 victory in saber.

Cornell defeated Brandeis 21-6, winning 8-1 in saber, 7-2 in foil and 6-3 in épée.

Saber Anna Hanley '11 was optimistic about the women's efforts at the meet.

"The women's team pulled through a lot of injuries, a lot of illness, and just a lot of hardship to even just show up and . pull off some wins," she said. "I'm really proud of what we accomplished."

Vikki Nunley '13, who fences foil, fell ill during the meet, and Alex Turner '11, who is normally a saber, acted as a foil in Nunley's place.

"[Turner] fenced foil in high school, but she has been a sabrist in her whole time at Brandeis," Hanley said. "It was taking one for the team, and she did quite well," she said.

Hanley also said that the team will build off of the team's defeats for future meets.

"I think we'll definitely do a lot better," she said. "We had a really tough time-especially against Cornell-today. Cornell, a team who we usually beat and dominate, actually, we just got smashed by. I think in the future, we will learn how to focus quicker and work together as a team. We do have a lot of new freshmen, and we'll only get better."

The fencing team is off until Jan. 22, 2011, when it will compete in the Northeast Conference Meet at Brown.