Harvard's young epee team showed signs of inexperience in tournament competition as the varsity fencers fell far short of their expectations yesterday in the Eastern Collegiate Fencing Championships at NYU.

The epee trio entered the afternoon competition with hopes for the team title, but they dropped their first eleven matches and finished ninth out of thirteen teams. Navy edged Cornell, a team Harvard defeated 6-3 just two weeks ago, for the national championship.

Coach Edo Marion said his fencers were tense and played far too carefully in the opening rounds. After falling behind in games, the Crimson became overly aggressive and lost their timing, he said.

Junior John Reitz led the team by splitting his twelve matches. Gaya Tatrallyay was expected to be a challenger for individual honors, but his play was completely off. He lost several one-point decisions and finished at 4-8, while Marc Irvings, a sophomore, won only three bouts.

This afternoon, captain Ron Winfield, Tony Abbott, and Larry Catrulo are the favorites in sabre competition. Harvard captured the Ivy League sabre title, with Winfield and Cetrulo being named to the All-Ivy team. Other top contenders for the championship in this event are Penn and Navy.