Spring Break
FENCING: Squads go undefeated at the first Northeast Conference Meet of the season
by Ian Cutler
Sports Editor
Sports | 11/20/07
Posted online at 9:59 PM EST on 11/19/07
/ Last updated at 3:09 PM EST on 11/19/07
Of the nine opponents the men's and women's fencing teams faced at last Saturday's Northeast Conference Meet, only two were varsity-level squads. Naturally, both Judges' teams rolled to victory.
Brandeis swept its way through the first team match of the season at Boston University. The men's squad won all four of its matches, while the women's team went 5-0 on the day. All of their wins had a margin of victory of greater than nine points.
The men's team beat the University of Massachusetts and Tufts University by identical 20-7 scores, routed the University of New Hampshire 23-4, and dismantled host BU 25-2. Despite the easy victories, coach Bill Shipman said he expects the Judges to fence even better in the future.
"It was an easy day, but it was good to get everybody some competition against other teams as well as ourselves in practice," he said. "We'll still be expecting them to fence better [in the future]."
The weaker competition allowed the Judges to fence many of their reserves, and players said the substitutes performed well.
"As a team we did better overall than all the other varsity teams at the meet who all played the same schools," captain and foil Eugene Vortsman '08 said. "Everyone got a chance to fence; starters, subs, everyone. Everyone held their own like they were supposed to."
With the wins, the Judges continued the positive momentum they gained from their high individual performances at the New England Fall Collegiate Meet Nov. 3. Four of the Judges' epées finished in the top eight of the epée tournament, and foil Will Friedman '09 and Vortsman finished second and third, respectively, in the foil event. Players said the individual successes of that tournament carried over to the team event last weekend.
"This was a good practice for our team as a whole to see what we need to still work on," epée Carl Goldfarb '11 said. "Since it's early on in the season we can fix it before we play meaningful competition. This was basically a tune-up for us."
Brandeis swept its way through the first team match of the season at Boston University. The men's squad won all four of its matches, while the women's team went 5-0 on the day. All of their wins had a margin of victory of greater than nine points.
The men's team beat the University of Massachusetts and Tufts University by identical 20-7 scores, routed the University of New Hampshire 23-4, and dismantled host BU 25-2. Despite the easy victories, coach Bill Shipman said he expects the Judges to fence even better in the future.
"It was an easy day, but it was good to get everybody some competition against other teams as well as ourselves in practice," he said. "We'll still be expecting them to fence better [in the future]."
The weaker competition allowed the Judges to fence many of their reserves, and players said the substitutes performed well.
"As a team we did better overall than all the other varsity teams at the meet who all played the same schools," captain and foil Eugene Vortsman '08 said. "Everyone got a chance to fence; starters, subs, everyone. Everyone held their own like they were supposed to."
With the wins, the Judges continued the positive momentum they gained from their high individual performances at the New England Fall Collegiate Meet Nov. 3. Four of the Judges' epées finished in the top eight of the epée tournament, and foil Will Friedman '09 and Vortsman finished second and third, respectively, in the foil event. Players said the individual successes of that tournament carried over to the team event last weekend.
"This was a good practice for our team as a whole to see what we need to still work on," epée Carl Goldfarb '11 said. "Since it's early on in the season we can fix it before we play meaningful competition. This was basically a tune-up for us."
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