M., W. Fencing Slip at Columbia

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.

"They have so much experience," Chew said. "But they're still beatable, given the right drive."

Added Lindblom: "Columbia is one of the best teams in the country. [Playing them] makes us realize what we need to do to become one of the top teams on the national level."

On the women's side, the previously-undefeated Crimson (7-1, 0-1 Ivy) ended up on the losing side of several very close matches on Saturday.

Led by U.S. Olympic team alternate Erinn Smart, the Lions overtook the Crimson in the foil by a 7-2 mark. Smart went a perfect 3-0 in her three matches.

For the Crimson, junior Emily Katz won one tilt, and freshman Liz Blase prevailed in a 5-3 bout against highly-touted Columbia fencer Katie Cavan.

Harvard's other two wins came from freshman Sarah Park and sophomore Amy Bei in the epee and sabre, respectively.

"While we may have lost as a team, there were a lot of individual victories," junior co-captain Ellen Schulz said, referring specifically to Blase's win over Cavan. "Also, there were a lot of 5-4 [losing] bouts that were close but don't get reflected in the final score."

"Our goal was to fence well and be proud of ourselves. We did," Schulz said. "They didn't roll over us. We're a young team and we've come a long way from last year."

Both Crimson squads will now enjoy a month-long layoff before resuming action in a Northeast Fencing Conference meet hosted by Boston College on Jan. 2.

Chew says the Crimson needs to take advantage of the time off to gain more experience against talented fighters.

"In the training room, we are just fighting against ourselves," he said. "We need to go in against the clubs for the higher competition."