UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State men’s fencing team and the women’s fencing team completed the Carla-Mae Richards Invitational at Brandeis University on December 7, 2025 in Waltham, Mass. Several fencers wrapped up the invitational with strong performances, including several undefeated victories.
HAVERFORD
Both the men and women won their duels against Haverford, 19-8 and 22-5, respectively.
Women’s epee won with a final score of 6-3. All three women’s epee fencers — Sophia Abashidze, Yuna Tamura and Lena Gyenes — went 2-1.
Both Sebastian Bonomo and Zachary Suico finished 2-1 in men’s epee with an additional victory from Joshua Yakorovsky in his season debut to win, 5-4.
In men’s saber 8-1 victory, both Neil Lilov and Carlos Fernando Chacon fenced undefeated with two additional victories from Tyson Deck.
Women’s saber also won against Haverford, 7-2. Eve Scott went undefeated along with Eunyu Kim, who is continuing her dominant junior season.
All three women’s foil fencers — Thea Fernandes, Eden De La Cruz and Sam Catantan — went undefeated in a dominant 9-0 win. Catantan made her season debut for the Nittany Lions after starting her season internationally.
On the men’s side, foil also won 6-3 in their bouts against Haverford. Both Spencer Burke and Alessio Fukuda went undefeated.
BRANDEIS
The Penn State women’s team won the match against Brandeis, 20-7, while the men lost in a tight 14-13 loss to Brandeis.
Women’s foil continued its strong start to the competition, winning 8-1. Catantan went undefeated for the second time as Fernandes and De La Cruz each earned two victories with an additional victory from Clarisse Tan.
The men’s foil team lost 6-3, where Burke went 2-1 in his bouts against Brandeis
Amelia Baker fenced to a 3-0 victory against Brandeis as women’s saber won 5-4. Mia Novick and Scott provided two more victories to push the Nittany Lions to victory.
Lilov went undefeated against Brandeis in men’s saber 5-4 loss.
For the second time in the competition, Tamura went undefeated in her bouts. Allegra Cristofoletto also went undefeated as Penn State women’s foil won 7-2.
Men’s foil won 6-3, featuring an undefeated performance from Suico and victories from Vasil Ivakimov and Sultan Hassan.
BOSTON COLLEGE
Both the men’s and women’s teams lost 18-9 and 16-11, respectively, in their matchups against Boston College.
Cristofoletto earned the only victories in women’s epee, going 2-1 in a 7-2 loss. On the men’s side, epee won 5-4. Both Ivakimov and Hassan went 2-1 with another victory from Suico to win the bouts against Boston College.
Burke earned the only victories for men’s foil, going 2-1 in a 7-2 loss. Boston College won a narrow 5-4 victory over the Nittany Lions. Catantan provided two victories with Fernandes and De La Cruz each earning one.
In men’s saber, Lilov earned the only two victories for Penn State in a 7-2 loss. But on the women’s side, saber won 5-4 against Boston College. Kim went undefeated for a second time at the Brandeis Invitational with two additional victories from Scott.
LAWRENCE
In men’s epee, they won a tight 5-4 match against Wayne State. Hassan and Suico both went 2-1 with another victory from Bonomo to seal the match.
Lilov went undefeated, 3-0, as Chacon and Deck each went 2-1 as men’s saber won 7-2 over Wayne State.
NO. 2 BROWN
The women’s team fell to No. 2 Brown in a 14-13 loss.
Brown took a 5-4 win against the women’s epee team, with another undefeated performance from Cristofoletto.
Women’s foil also lost 5-4 to Brown. Catantan drew up another undefeated performance with an additional victory from Fernandes.
The women’s saber team won 5-4. Scott and Baker provided one victory and Kim went undefeated for the third time, this time against Brown.
TUFTS
Tufts University took a 16-11 win over Penn State.
Tuft’s women’s foil team took a 5-4 victory over Penn State. Catantan finished 2-1 with one victory from Fernandes and Tan.
Women’s saber also fell 6-3 to Tufts with two victories from Scott and one from Novick.
In a 5-4 loss, women’s epee saw another undefeated performance from Tamura with an additional victory from Abashidze.
WHEATON
The Penn State men’s team took a dominant 25-2 overall victory against Wheaton.
Men’s epee won 9-0 with Hassan, Yakorovsky and Bonomo all fencing undefeated.
Matthew Gonzalez and Fukuda went undefeated in a 8-1 victory for men’s foil as Julian Chin went 2-1.
Men’s saber won 8-1, featuring an undefeated performance from Deck and Lilov as Chacon and Dusan Zeljkovic earned one more victory each to finish the Nittany Lion’s strong outing against Wheaton.
WELLESLEY
The Penn State women's team fell in a close matchup against Wellesley, 14-13.
The women’s foil team won 5-4 as De La Cruz and Fernandes each went 2-1 with another victory from Tan.
Novick went undefeated for women’s saber with another victory from Scott in its 5-4 loss.
Women’s epee also lost 5-4, but not before Cristofoletto earned her third undefeated performance with another win from Lena Gyenes.
ST. JOHN'S UNIVERSITY
The Penn State women’s team won the match, 18-9 while the men’s team lost 17-10.
The men’s saber team won 7-2. Lilov went undefeated for the third time in the competition. Deck and Chacon each went 2-1. The women’s team also won 7-2 as Kim went undefeated along with Scott and another win from Novick.
Men’s epee lost 6-3 to St. John’s with victories from Fukuda, Gonzalez and Burke. While the women won 6-3, Cristofoletto went undefeated and Gyenes went 2-1.
SJU won 9-0 against men’s foil. On the women’s foil won a tight 5-4 matchup with 2-1 performances from De La Cruz and Catantan and another victory from Fernandes.
UP NEXT
Penn State’s next competition is at the Penn Invitational on January 17, 2026 at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
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