Men’s, Women’s Fencing Struggle at St. John’s Invitational

Among a field that included many of the nation’s top teams, the No. 3 Harvard men’s fencing team registered only one win in five attempts while the No. 7 women’s team only won twice on Saturday’s St. John’s Invitational at Carnasecca Arena in Jamaica, N.Y.

The men’s squad kept it close against No. 5 Ohio State, No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 1 Penn State, falling 15-12, 15-12, and 17-10, respectively.

But the meet’s host, No. 6 St. John’s, dominated the Crimson, 19-8, in the meet’s last match. Harvard failed to register a victory in any weapon group, falling, 3-6, 1-8, and 4-5, in the foil, epee, and sabre, respectively.

Unranked Columbia was responsible for the Crimson’s lone victory on the meet.

The Lions rode momentum into the match from having just completed a14-13 upset over the St. John’s. But Harvard had no trouble in downing its Ivy League foe, winning, 16-11, behind strong 6-3 performances in both the epee and sabre.

The men’s epee team had a breakout performance. Despite a 22-23 record on the day, the team managed to top all schools except for St. John’s.

“Overall, they had a pretty good day, but against St. John’s, in their last match, they just weren’t in sync,” Harvard coach Peter Brand said. “I think St. John’s was an anomaly. I am quite confident they will recover.”

The men’s foil didn’t fare as well, winning just 14 bouts while dropping 31. The disappointing results just eclipsed the Nittany Lions men’s epee and Columbia men’s foil, which each recorded 16 victories, for the worst performance of any unit in the tournament.

Like the epee team, the Crimson’s sabre unit also turned in a record of 22-23.

On the women’s side, Harvard was able to hand top-ranked Penn State its first loss of the season by a score of 14-13 in the first matchup of the day.

But the No. 3 Crimson cooled off after the strong opening, mustering only one more victory—a 14-13 win over No. 6 St. John’s—the rest of the way.

Harvard’s three losses came to No. 3 Notre Dame, 15-12, No. 5 Ohio State, 21-6, and Columbia, 15-12.

“I think the meet overall reflects a need to reevaluate our training and figure out what we can do differently to prepare for [the] Ivy League Championships and NCAA Championships,” freshman Peregrine Badger said.

The Crimson’s top performers were some of the team’s most seasoned veterans.

“I was very happy with [sophomore] Alexandra Kiefer in the foil,” said Brand of his defending national champion. “She dropped a few bouts, but overall she is a brilliant performer, and I know for a fact she worked hard over the break and maintained her skills.”

For the men, it was captain Valentin Staller who led the way.

“Staller really is back on track,” Brand said. “I know he had a tough go of it in our last outing, but he certainly has recovered and fenced extremely well.”

But overall, Brand was not pleased with his team’s performance.

“I think we were off this time,” Brand said. “It might have been the long break or going against some of the toughest in the country. The timing was not great. We could have done better, but we didn’t.”

Harvard had not participated in a meet since it traveled to Penn State on Dec. 3. There, the roles were reversed, with both the Crimson men’s and women’s team bullying their opponents and coasting to easy victories except against the Nittany Lions, which swept Harvard by a scores of 15-12 on the men’s side and 16-11 for the women.

The men’s squad’s only two losses in regular season play last year came at St. John’s Super Cup, which featured the same six teams. Harvard had mixed results at the meet, balancing a pair of 16-11 losses against Penn State and the Fighting Irish with victories over then-ranked St. John’s, the Buckeyes, and the Lions.

The invitational is the men’s and women’s last meet before the Ivy League Championship on the second weekend in February, where the Crimson will come in as one of the favorites. The men might have the tougher task, though, as three other Ancient Eight squads—No. 2 Princeton, No. 7 Penn, and No. 10 Yale—are in the nation’s top 10.

“We anticipate having a good run at the Ivy League Championships, so we have to get back to work,” Brand said.

—Staff writer Daniel A. Grafstein can be reached at dgrafstein@college.harvard.edu.