Pictured: Noam Mills won all 14 of her matches Sunday.
Photo courtesy: David Silverman Photography

Complete Results

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The Harvard women's fencing team opened the dual meet portion of its season with six victories at the Harvard Invitational, hosted by the Crimson Sunday.  Harvard defeated Penn State, the defending national champion, as well as Princeton, NYU, Vassar, North Carolina and Sacred Heart.  Caroline Vloka went 18-0 in the sabre, while Noam Mills was 14-0 in the epee. 

The Crimson opened with a 22-5 victory over Sacred Heart, as Harvard swept all nine matches in the foil.  Shelby MacLeod, Artemisha Goldfeder and Arielle Pensler each posted 3-0 marks against Sacred Heart in the foil.  Vloka went 3-0 and Hayley Levitt was 2-1 in the sabre, helping the Crimson double up Sacred Heart, 6-3, in that weapon.  Harvard also won the epee, 7-2, as Nadia Eldeib won all three of her matches and Mills boasted a 2-0 record.  In round two, Harvard topped NYU, 24-3, as the Crimson claimed all nine matches in the sabre.  Vloka, Levitt and Elena Helgiu each went 3-0 in the weapon.  In the epee, Mills remained perfect on the day, winning all three matches, while Felicia Sun also enjoyed a 3-0 mark.  Goldfeder continued Harvard's dominance in the foil, as she and MacLeod were 3-0 against NYU.

Harvard narrowly edged Penn State, 14-13, as the Crimson earned 5-4 wins in the epee and sabre.  Once again, Mills had a perfect record in the epee, taking all three bouts.  Vloka also continued her perfect performance in the sabre, winning all three matches, including the decisive bout.  The Nittany Lions topped Harvard, 5-4, in the foil, despite two wins by MacLeod.

The Crimson then cruised to a 22-5 win over North Carolina, led by 7-2 wins by the sabre and foil squads and a 8-1 decision by the epee team.  Vloka improved to 12-0 in the competition with three more victories, while Helgiu and Levitt claimed two victories each in the sabre.  Mills grabbed her ninth, 10th and 11th wins in the epee against the Tar Heels, joining Eldeib with a perfect showing against North Carolina.  In the foil, MacLeod was 3-0, while Podolsky went 2-1. In the sixth round, Harvard answered 5-4 defeats to Princeton in the foil and sabre with an 8-1 showing in the epee, clinching a 16-11 victory against its Ivy League rival.  Mills concluded her perfect day by improving to 14-0 with three more wins, while Sun went 3-0 and Eldeib was 2-1 against the Tigers.  Vloka, meanwhile, posted her fifth straight 3-0 performance in the sabre.  Podolsky was Harvard's highlight in the foil against Princeton, going 2-1.

In the day's final competition, Vloka clinched a perfect 18-0 record at the Harvard Invitational by helping Harvard top Vassar, 21-6.  The Crimson won all nine matches in the sabre, as Vloka, Levitt and Helgiu each went 3-0.  In the foil, Pensler and Katherine Chou were undefeated at 3-0, while Podolsky also picked up two wins, guiding Harvard to an 8-1 win in that weapon.  Vassar claimed the foil, 5-4, despite two wins by Eldeib.

Up next, the Crimson will host Tufts Thursday, Dec. 3 at 5:30 p.m.