Harvard Cruises In Blowout Victories

Both the Harvard fencing teams swept the board against Boston College at the Malkin Athletic Center yesterday in their last competition before the second round of the Ivy League Tournament in New York this weekend.

The men’s and women’s squads both posted 22-5 finishes over the Eagles with wins in epee, foil and sabre, a sound result that, following a victory over Columbia last weekend, puts them high on the list of contenders for the title of Ivy League Champions when they face off against Brown, Princeton and Penn on Sunday.

Freshman foilist Kai Itameri-Kinter won his bout 3-0, and the men’s sabre squad of senior David J. Jakus, and juniors Timothy Hagamen and Daniel Sachs also went undefeated to total 9-0.

On the women’s side, senior Chloe Stinetorf and sophomores Emily Cross, Carolyn Wright, and Alexa Weingarden also all went undefeated.

Coach Peter Brand said that, while it is “imperative” for the Harvard teams to compete against BC as a prelude to the NCAA championships in March, it was also part of his policy to have as many matches as possible in addition to its Ivy League bouts to keep the teams sharp.

“The Ivy League is probably one of the strongest leagues in American fencing, if not the strongest,” he said. “We try to utilize the [interposed] events as much as possible to keep us focused and in shape and intense for this weekend.”

Co-captain Jakus echoed his words.

“It was important for us to show a strong team here,” Jakus said. “It’s good preparation for this weekend’s tournament.”

He commended freshman Craig Gorin as MVP of the evening for fencing foil in place of a teammate, despite being a sabre fencer generally. Scott DiGiulio subbed in for sabre and won his match.

Brand did not want to speculate on the teams’ chances at the weekend, saying that the top Ivy teams were very close to each other in skill.

“We started rather sluggish at Cornell, we need to get ahead faster. Princeton and Penn are very strong squads and it’s going to be tough,” he said. “Our guys are going to have to go in with their A-game, one slip and we’ll lose it.”

Brand added that the teams were highly motivated and eager to prove themselves at the weekend.

“We are hungry, we were hungry last year, and this year we have a great opportunity to win it outright,” he said. “The women won it last year and the men are very hungry to win it outright as they’ve never done it before, but it will be hard.”

—Staff writer Alexandra C. Bell can be reached at acbell@fas.harvard.edu.