It was a long and arduous season for the Harvard men's fencing team.

After being abandoned by all three foil starters at the beginning of the season, the Crimson (0-5) went on to occupy the last spot in the Ivy League.

Fortunately, things began to change for Harvard in the last meet of the season.

The Crimson finished eighth out of 14 schools in the IFA Championships held last weekend at Jadwin Gymnasium in Princeton, N.J., but Anthony Loeser performed well enough to advance to the NCAA Championships.

Loeser finished 7-6 to take the sixth spot in epee and earn a trip to South Bend, Ind., on March 24-28.

"My goal was to do well enough to make a name for myself," Loeser said. "I'm looking forward to the NCAA's. It will be fun."

Penn won the overall team competition, while Columbia and Yale finished second and third respectively.

In Saturday's team competition, with a 53-64 overall record, Harvard finished eighth, only one bout behind Navy. It was an improvement upon last year's tenth place finish.

In separate weapon categories, the Crimson was seventh in sabre, tenth in foil, and sixth in epee.

Based on Saturday's performance, 18 fencers in each category advanced to Sunday's individual competition.

Captain Peter Einaudi, with 6-7 record on Saturday, advanced in sabre. Loeser and Franco Baseggio, with 9-4 and 10-3 records respectively, advanced to the individual rounds in epee.

Einaudi was 2-3 on Sunday, finishing tenth in his weapon category. Baseggio, also 2-3, finished thirteenth.

"Tony and Franco fenced very well," Einaudi said. "Teamwise, we could have done better."

"We have young fencers," Einaudi said. "We could not expect much, especially in foil. We had some nice surprises along the way."