CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Haverford College men's fencing team traveled to MIT and competed at the Sollee Invitational on Sunday. The Fords toppled Brown out of the Ivy League and nearly pulled through against Brandeis to highlight the fencing action on Super Bowl Sunday. Haverford's take down of Brown came by a 17-10 score.
The talented youth of the team continued to shine with freshman Yan Yan Xie leading the Fords with 12 foil bout victories in his 15 matches. Xie's efforts helped Haverford to a convincing 8-1 weapon squad victory against Brown. The Fords and Bears tied at nine-all in the other weapons after Haverford won the sabre by a 7-2 tally, while epee went to Brown by that same margin. Xie won all three of his bouts against the Ivy League foe and later recorded three more victories against MIT as the Fords' foilists topped the host Engineers by a 7-2 score. Xie won two of his three matches in each of the other three rounds.
Jack Leighninger and Russell Rivera were also big parts of the foilists success in the weapon squad victories. Rivera was a perfect 3-0 in Haverford's win against Brown while co-captain Ching Li took two individual bouts from the Bears. Leighninger won at least one bout in each of the rounds he fenced and capped his day with a 3-0 mark against host MIT. The freshman totaled eight victories on the afternoon.
Sabre came up with a huge 7-2 victory against Brown. That match was a total team effort as sophomores Gabriel Braun and David Parker each notched a pair of victories. Braun would go on to total nine individual bout victories on the afternoon, winning two bouts in the second through fifth rounds of action. Freshman John Hare was second among the sabrists with seven victories. He won a bout in each round of action, including a pair of two win performances against Brown and Boston College. Henry Li also secured a team point for the Fords during the victory against Brown.
Senior co-captain Eric Gardner led the epeeists with six wins on the afternoon. He secured at least one win in each of the first four rounds, including two victories against Boston College and Brandeis. His two wins against Brandeis helped the Fords tip the epee scale in their favor by the slimmest of margins. However, foil and sabre went to Brandeis by that same 5-4 score as Haverford came out on the wrong side of the spirited 14-13 bout. Jake Bassinder entered the lineup in the meeting with Brandeis and went 2-1 during epee's victory over the Judges. Ian Wheeler and Kadan Lottick also tallied two victories to the epeeists credit on Sunday.
The Sollee Invitational kicked off a busy stretch for the men's fencing team as the Fords are in action each weekend during the month of February. Up next, Haverford will travel to Madison, New Jersey where Drew will serve as the host of the MACFA "A" vs. "C" bouts next Sunday, February 12. Fencing is scheduled to get underway at 9 a.m.
Men's Fencing Scores
New York University 18, Haverford 9
Epee: 7-2
Foil: 5-4
Sabre: 6-3
Haverford 17, Brown 10
Epee: 2-7
Foil: 8-1
Sabre: 7-2
Boston College 17, Haverford 10
Epee: 6-3
Foil: 6-3
Sabre: 5-4
Brandeis 14, Haverford 13
Epee: 4-5
Foil: 5-4
Sabre: 5-4
MIT 17, Haverford 10
Epee: 9-0
Foil: 2-7
Sabre: 6-3