WALTHAM, Mass. - The Haverford College women's fencing team faced many of the top teams in the New England area at the Sollee Invitational on Saturday.

Opening the day against head coach Chris Spencer's alma mater and tournament host, Brandeis University, the Fords rolled to their first-ever victory against the Judges in women's competition, 16-11. The men's team had registered its first and only victory over Brandeis in February 2010. The win over Brandeis marks the second time this season that the women's team has registered its initial program win against an opponent as it took down Vassar for the first time in November.

The remaining rounds of competion presented a challenge as Brown's dominance in the epee was too much to overcome in round two. The epeeists bounced back in round three to slide by NYU, 5-4, but it wasn't enough as Haverford dropped a 19-8 decision. MIT took a narrow victory in round four before the Fords took on Boston College in the final round of the day. Haverford's foilists and epeeists suffered narrow 4-5 losses while the Eagles' nationally-ranked sabrists proved insurmountable.

Sophomore foilist Katie Elbert led all fencers on the day with an undefeated record, going 15- 0 against a slew of tough opponents. Freshman Jess Poling also contributed four wins to the foil total. Leading the sabrists on the day, at 6-8, was junior Francesca Behling, who has shown fantastic improvement over the semester; while sophomore epeeists Anjali Baliga and Sarah Sofia matched each other bout-for-bout for identical 7-8 records.

The Fords will travel to Drew University in Madison, N.J., next Sunday where they will compete in the Eastern Women's Fencing Conference (EWFC) Championship.

Haverford def. Brandeis, 16-11
Foil: 7-2
Epee: 5-4
Sabre: 4-5

Brown def. Haverford, 16-11
F: 6-3
E: 8-1
S: 2-7

NYU def. Haverford, 19-8
F: 6-3
E: 4-5
S: 9-0

MIT def. Haverford, 17-10
F: 5-4
E: 6-3
S: 6-3

Boston College def. Haverford, 18-9
F: 5-4
E: 5-4
S: 8-1