Eagles Compete Against New England's Best
February 26, 2007 | Fencing
For only the second time in championship history, a tie for first place after the team rounds forced a fence-off to determine the 2007 men's team champions. Twelve schools participated in the men's event and after a grueling eleven rounds of fencing and 105 individual bouts, Boston College and Brandeis stood dead even at 78 victories each. Following rules adapted after Boston College and MIT shared the title in 2000, the two schools' top fencer in each weapon faced each other in simultaneous five-touch bouts.
The sabre bout was over first with Malcolm Conley defeating Brendan Doris-Pierce of Brandeis 5-2. On the epee strip, Sam Richardson faced four-time New England champion Kai Keller. The bout was close, standing at 4-3 in favor of Keller with six seconds remaining. With time running out, Richardson had no choice but to attack, resulting in a double touch and a final score of 5-4, Brandeis.
All attention now shifted to the foil strip where freshman Andrew Shirman was fighting it out with Brandeis' Will Friedman. The bout would determine the team championship. Shirman came from behind to tie the bout at 3-3, but a close call by the referee soon put the score at 4-3 Brandeis, and Friedman scored the last touch to win the title for the Judges.
Eight of the nine fencers qualified for the individual round with three advancing to the final. Malcolm Conley took silver in men's sabre, Sam Richardson took the bronze in men's epee, and Andrew Shirman placed 4th in men's foil.
BC took gold and silver in individual women's epee with Carrie O'Connor beating rival Sarah Abraham of Wellesley on her way to capturing first place. She is the first BC women's epeeist to win this event. Heather Ciganek placed second. The women's team took third over-all with 69 total victories, one victory behind second-place MIT.
2007 New England Championships Results:
Men's Team Over-All 1. Brandeis 2. Boston College 3. MIT
Men's Sabre Squad 1. Boston College 2. MIT 3. Brandeis
Men's Foil Squad 1. Brandeis 2. Sacred Heart 3. MIT 4. Boston College
Men's Epee Squad 1. Brandeis 2. Boston College 3. Vassar College
Women's Team Over-All 1. Brandeis 2. MIT 3. Boston College
Women's Sabre Squad 1. Brandeis 2. Vassar 3. UMass 4. Boston College
Women's Foil Squad 1. Brandeis 2. MIT 3. Tufts 4. Boston College
Women's Epee Squad 1T Boston College 1T Dartmouth College 2. Vassar College
