Harvard Brings Home Beanpot

Last night, the Harvard men’s and women’s fencing teams took home six wins and bragging rights, battling Brandeis, Boston College, and MIT in Boston and taking home the third annual Beanpot.

The Crimson fencing squads (9-6M, 11-6W) faced off against all three other Boston-area schools in a one-night marathon-style tournament. Harvard took home the two titles with some ease, as the men’s team defeated the Judges, the Engineers, and the Eagles with scores of 23-4, 19-8, and 19-8, respectively, while the women won all three matches as well, 20-7, 21-6, 19-8.

“I though [the Beanpot] went very well,” co-captain Karl Harmenberg said. “We shut [Brandeis] down completely this time. [The others we] expect to beat, but even bad teams are dangerous.”

“It was a good night for us obviously,” Crimson coach Peter Brand said. “I was very happy to see the men’s foil squad performing better than they had last time [out].

Harvard performed impressively all-around, dominating its three opponents in the epee, sabre, and foil competitions. Sophomore co-captain epee Noam Mills and freshman sabre Thomas Kolasa, on the women’s and men’s sides respectively, led the Crimson with strong individual efforts, each going a perfect 9-0 on the night.

This is especially impressive, considering that each Harvard fencer played three back-to-back matches last night.

“The freshmen and sophomores are really growing into their roles and winning bouts,” Harmening said.

Junior epee Wesley Talcott also came up big for the Crimson, winning key bouts against Boston College.

The leading fencers for MIT were sophomore foils Ben Nield and Daniel Levine, who finished the night 7-2 and 5-4 respectively. Having bouts of difficulty on the Engineers’ side were sabres senior Rajiv Nadadur (3-6), sophomore Vinayak Ramesh (2-7), and junior Max Brand (1-8).

The Beanpot holds special significance for Harvard, which emerged victorious from last year’s inaugural tournament as well.

“[The fencing Beanpot] is something that started a few years ago,” Brand said. “It’s a new tradition, an excellent tournament. This year we were obviously very strong but, with Brandeis especially, in any given year, [anything can happen].”

The rivalry between the Crimson and the Judges is especially strong. While Harvard took home last years’ Beanpot matchup against Brandeis, the Judges defeated the Crimson two years ago in another battle.

“Every year it’s a new experience,” Brand said. “You never really know [who’s going to come out on top].”

Interestingly, Brand’s son, senior sabre Alex Brand, competes on the Brandeis men’s squad, contributing yet another element to the Beanpot rivalry between Harvard and the Judges.

Excited about coming away with two tournament titles again this year, Coach Brand emphasized that his teams see the Beanpot as both a very important tournament in itself and a way to prepare for the Crimson’s upcoming matches.

“We win a trophy and that’s exciting. In a sense we want to show that we’re better than all the teams in Boston,” Harmening said. “Our big goal is to win Ivies and NCAAs, but [the Beanpot is] not a practice tournament; we want to win.”

Winning appears to be both a dominant theme and a trend for Harvard, which has won eight of its last ten matchups, including four out of six matches at the first part of the Ivy League Championships that took place last weekend at Cornell.

The Crimson men’s team is currently in a three-way tie for second place in the Ivy League with Brown and Yale, while the women’s team sits in fourth place. The Harvard women are the defending Ivy League champions, while Penn will attempt to earn its second Ivy title on the men’s side. The teams are looking forward to next weekend, when it resumes its quest for the Ivy League crown in part two of the Ivy Championships at Penn.