The Harvard fencing team made its strongest showing so far this season at the Penn State Invitational Saturday.

In an all-day team event, the men and women competed against four universities. The men finished undefeated (18-9 vs. NYU, 18-9 vs. UNC, 14-13 vs. Penn State, 20-7 vs. Rutgers) while the women fell just short of perfection in a hard-fought 15-12 loss to Penn State (18-9 vs. NYU, 24-3 vs. UNC, 21-6 vs. Rutgers).

“It was the best performance since last year,” Harvard coach Peter Brand said. “It bodes well for us, both the men and the women, for the coming season.”

The men reached their own milestone, beating Penn State for the first time. In the past the Crimson has seldom faced the Lions, a team that runs a fencing scholarship program and, before last season’s fourth-place national finish, had won or placed second for the national championship in every season since 1990.

The men were led by undefeated performances from epee fencers senior Julian Rose, junior Ian Lindblom, and sophomores Benjamin Ungar and Edward Sherrill. Brand referred to the foursome as the top epee fencing squad in the country.

Freshmen foil Kai Itameri-Kinter and saber Scott DiGiulio showed great potential in the competition.

“It was [one of] their first college meet[s] and they came out big time for us,” Brand said. “I think it made the difference today.”

The women were lead by one of the strongest trios at foil in the country. Co-captains Anne Austin and Chloe Stinetorf as well as sophomore Emily Cross—the current reigning junior champion—led the way, finishing unbeaten in the competition.

“Emily Cross went undefeated against Penn State even though she hurt herself in the world cup last week, which she won,” Stinetorf said. “It was a really amazing performance because she was literally in so much pain she was crying.”

With the start of Ivy League play on the horizon, Stinetorf said she remained confident about the upcoming schedule.

“It feels good knowing we have the bulk of our Ivy competition coming up soon,” she said. “We know we will be able to hold our own.”