The Brandeis men's and women's fencing teams started their seasons firing on all cylinders at the Big One Invitational last Saturday at Smith College.

In the massive pool of 493 fencers representing eighteen different colleges, six Judges-two women and four men-medaled.

Caroline Mattos '16 was the top Judge at the Big One Invitational, finishing in first place in the women's foil. Mattos not only won all 12 of her matches; they were by overwhelming margins too.

In her six pool matches, Mattos allowed merely one touch, making her indicator +29. To put that figure in perspective, that means that she shut out all of her opponents except for one. That opponent lost 5-1.

"[Mattos's] performance is just a glimpse of the damage she will do throughout the season," said teammate Sonya Glickman '16, who finished 14th in women's ?(c)p?(c)e.

Although Mattos did not blank all six of her tournament opponents, she was still nothing short of spectacular in the round of 64. In her first three matches, Mattos allowed only four touches. Despite the fact that her last three matches were much closer than her first three, she still held her adversaries to single digits each time.

Captain Zoe Messinger '13 also shined in the first meet of the year. In sabre, Messinger placed 5th overall and also dominated pool play, compiling a +24 indicator. Messinger, who was granted a bye for her performance in the pool round and who dominated the second and third rounds of tournament play, lost to the fourth-seeded Massachusetts Institute of Technology senior Robin Shin in the semi-final round. Shin went on to lose in the finals to Brown University sophomore Christine Whalen.

On the men's side, Adam Mandel '15 and Jess Ochs-Willard '15 won the silver and bronze medals for the sabre respectively. Mandel was seeded first in the tournament of 64. Ochs-Willard was seeded fourth.
The seeding was such that Mandel and Ochs-Willard could have clashed in the finals. However, eighth-seeded Nick Deak, a sophomore from Brown took down the other No. 1 seed. MIT freshman Nicolas Sledeski took Ochs-Willard down in a fight to the wire. Deak also defeated Mandel in the finals.

Yet despite all the positives from the day, the Judges faced a rather undesirable situation-having two of their own athletes face off in a match.

"It's an unfortunate situation," Glickman said.

Ben Loft '15, who finished seventh, and Ochs-Willard both were faced with this challenge. In the round of 16, Ochs-Willard had to take down teammate Eric Shen '16 in order to advance to the next round. There, Mandel had to defeat Loft in order to move on to the semi-finals.

"It's still good for the team," Glickman said. "You have to be happy for your team and the rest of the team."

The men's sabre competitors were the most successful Judges: five of them placed in the top 15, and three of them medaled.

Noah Berman '15 won Brandeis' final medal, placing sixth in men's foil. Berman, who was seeded second, was upset by sixth-seeded Stuart Holmes, a senior from Sacred Heart University. Holmes won gold in men's foil.

Both the men and women had impressive showings at the Big One Invitational, and look to continue their success at their next meet, Northeast Fencing Conference Meet 1 at MIT on Nov. 17. The teams' first home meet is December 2. Brandeis will play will host to Yale University, Johns Hopkins University, St. John's University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Cornell University.