Both Harvard fencing teams delivered strong perfomances at the MIT Invitational yesterday. The women cruised to a 4-0 sweep, while the men registered a 3-1 record on the day.

Men

The Harvard men’s fencing team picked up three wins yesterday but lost its most important matchup, against Ivy opponent Penn, 17-10. UNC and NYU both fell to the Crimson 18-9, while Duke bowed out, 15-12.

The toughest competition during the Quaker match was in the foil division, where Penn swept Harvard, 9-0.

“Penn has an extremely strong foil squad, and we weren’t able to challenge them,” co-captain foil Ben Schmidt said. “They were able to take advantage of our weaknesses. It was disappointing that we lost since we were really gunning for it.”

Wins by the squad and two saber fencers could not make up for the foil event, which Harvard coach Peter Brand termed a “killer.”

Having recorded its first win since 1978 over No. 1 Columbia last November, Harvard would have set itself up with a great opportunity to claim the Ivy championship this year by defeating Penn.

The Crimson still has a chance to take the title if it defeats Princeton and Yale and the Lions beat the Quakers.

“The men were a little sluggish at first, but they finished very strong against UNC,” Brand said. “Right now we can only hope UPenn loses one, so [the Ivy Championship] basically comes down to the meet against Yale and Princeton.”

“I think UPenn will have a very difficult time beating Princeton,” Brand added.

In the NYU match, the saber squad had the best record, with a 7-2 performance overall.

The win was even more satisfying since Brand has a less-than-favorable opinion of the NYU team.

“Obviously they’re in our region, but I didn’t really want them here,” Brand said. “It’s just a part of the rivalry and the competition. It was a strong competition and fairly intense. Winning is always good, and there are no arguments after a win.”

The victory over Duke was made easier because the Blue Devils were missing one epee fencer. The automatic three-bout forfeit proved to be the difference in the match, but the Crimson still posted strong performances in the saber and foil events.

“Even if they had their third guy, we could have won,” Brand said.