If to the victor belong the foils, then the Harvard women's fencing team has some new equipment.
In the first meet of the season, the Harvard women's fencing team defeated Brandeis 26-6, while the men fell by a score of 18-9.
Three men compete for each team in each of three weapons: foil, epee and sabre. Women compete only in foil and epee, but they enter four athletes in each category. The first fencer to score five touches wins the bout.
Only the fencer with the right of way may score a touch in foil or sabre bout. In order for the touch to register a point, it must fall within a restricted area designated by a vest.
The distinction between foil and sabre bouts is that the foil is a point weapon and thus the fencers must stab their opponents. A sabre is a slash weapon, and thus the fencer may stab or cut. In an epee bout, by contrast, whichever fencer hits first gets the touch.
The Harvard women won the foil competition 10-6 and shut out Brandeis 16-0 in the epee competition. Juniors Sarah Crasson and captain Brindisi Chan each went 3-1 for the Crimson in the foil competition.
"The rest of the guys pulled off a strong finish, strong enough to pull us through 10-6," Chan said.
Sophormore Mallory Stewart, Valerie Uzzell and sophomore Meredith Trauner all went 4-0 in the epee division. Sophomore Katrina Lundberg and Heather Rypkema were both 2-0.
The Harvard men met with less success, falling 6-3 in the foil, sabre and epee competitions.
Junior Gregory Chang stood out in the foil division. He scored two of the Crimson's three points. Sophomore Lee Scheffler won two of three bouts in the sabre competition. Senior captain Paul Baez went 2-for-3 in epee.
"We should have done a lot better," Baez said. "We had a few injuries like Ted Afield. He was a loss for the sabre team."
Harvard junior Alain de Leonardis won his first bout last night in the sabre division.
But Baez is optimistic about the team's performance this weekend when it opens its Ivy League schedule at the Malkin Athletic Center.
"It seemed like our concentration was a little bit off this meet--possibly because it's unusual to have a night meet in the middle of the week," Baez said. "But I'm expecting everyone to do a lot better for the upcoming meet this weekend. The people who had problems here know what they did wrong. We know what we need to work on."
Saturday the men's and women's teams will face Princeton at 10 a.m. and Columbia at noon. In addition, the women will meet Cornell at 2 p.m.
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