The Harvard men's and women's fencing teams both found themselves on the wrong end of the sword this weekend, as perennially tough Ivy foe Columbia romped to easy victories in New York on Saturday.

The Crimson men fell 22-5 while the women suffered their first defeat of the season by a margin of 23-4.

The men's squad (4-2, 0-1 Ivy) received its best performance in the epee, as co-captain Eugene Cha, sophomore Derek Lindblom and freshman Stephen Milder each tallied victories for the Crimson.

Promising freshmen Scott Silver and David Wollenberg also each recorded single victories with the sabre.

In fact, the Crimson trailed just 5-4 after the first round of competition.

But Harvard won just one bout the rest of the way and Columbia shut out Harvard 9-0 in the foil to seal the win for the Lions. It was Columbia's second double-digit victory over Harvard in as many years.

"They have a very deep team, a very strong team," co-captain Davin Chew said. "Our expectation was to give them a fight, a run for their money. I don't think we did that. It showed us we still have a lot of work to do."

The Lions' squad features several fencers who are prominent on the national scene, including a U.S. Senior World Team member in senior Jed Dupree and a former National Junior Olympic champion in senior Patrick Durkan.