Engineers Record Solid NFC Debut

DURHAM, N.H. – In its first Northeast Fencing Conference competition of the year, the MIT men's fencing team posted a 3-2 ledger at the University of New Hampshire on Saturday. The Engineers defeated UMass Amherst (27-0), UNH (22-5), and Boston University (22-5) but fell to Brandeis University (14-13) and Sacred Heart (20-7). Both the epee and foil squads compiled ledgers of 31-14 while the sabre team finished at 29-16.

Junior Jackson Crane (San Francisco, Calif.) led the epee contingent with a 12-1 outing while Thomas Boning had a total of 9-6. Freshman David Wyrobnik (Frankfurt am Main, Germany) posted a record of 8-5 while classmate Ryan Yoo (Los Angeles, Calif.) went 2-2. MIT defeated UMass and BU by 9-0 margins and topped UNH, 6-3, but were edged out by Brandeis (4-5) and Sacred Heart (3-6).

The foil team picked up wins over UMass Amherst (9-0), UNH (7-2), BU (6-3), and Brandeis (7-2) but lost to Sacred Heart (7-2). Junior Alexander Siy was the only member of the Cardinal and Gray to face every team and compiled a 10-4 mark. Senior Benjamin Nield (Preston, Wash.) went 6-4, followed by senior Daniel Levine (Succasunna, N.J.) at 6-3, freshman Daniel Mendelsohn (New York, N.Y.) at 5-1, and senior Siraj Ali (Brooklyn, N.Y.) at 4-2.

Senior Vinayak Ramesh (El Dorado Hills, Calif.) and sophomore Ehsan Izadmehr (Wayne, N.J.) paced the sabre squad with tallies of 11-4 as Tech went 29-16 on the day. Junior Nathan Arce (Madison, Ala.) notched a 4-4 performance while classmate Alexis Hakimi (Tarzana, Calif.) was 3-4. MIT blanked UMass and UNH and earned a victory over BU (7-2), but fell to Brandeis (7-2) and Sacred Heart (7-2).

Next up for the Engineers will be the Brandeis Invitational on Sunday, Dec. 4.