Photo Gallery

BALTIMORE - After an extended hiatus due to winter break and various postponements, Lafayette's men's fencing squad returned to competition at Johns Hopkins on Sunday afternoon.

The Leopards faced four schools in the MACFA Tournament, using strong showings in the epee and sabre to triumph over Navy and William & Mary by identical 16-11 margins. The Maroon and White came within one point of earning a third victory, but were forced to settle for a split after dropping a 14-13 decision to Maryland in the day's final matchup.

Alex Gorloff and David Shindell each continued to lead the way for Lafayette, with Gorloff going 11-1 in sabre to improve his season record to a remarkable 41-7, while Shindell upped his season mark to 32-16 after winning 10 of his 12 epee bouts in Baltimore.

"Overall, the meet was a great success on multiple levels," head coach Jarrod Rottau said. "We scored two wins, and came extremely close to a third. What this translates to for our team is enough confidence to move forward, but also some clear points of improvement that we can address in practice. With several meets left this season, I'm expecting to see some serious improvement that should carry us strongly into the MACFA Championships as well as NCAA Regionals."

The Leopards took on the host Blue Jays to begin the afternoon, with Johns Hopkins emerging with an 18-9 victory. Lafayette picked up a 5-4 victory in the epee, backed by 2-1 records from Shindell and Conrad Stoerker, but went a combined 4-14 in the other two disciplines. Three of those victories came from Gorloff, as he posted his first of three 3-0 showings on the day.

Next up was Navy, and 6-3 performances in both the epee and sabre ensured the first victory of the tournament for the Leopards. Shindell (3-0) and David Jennings (2-1) went a combined 5-1 in the epee, while Gorloff, Jake Burns and Brent Staples each won 2-of-3 bouts in the sabre. Andrew Mange also added three key points for the Maroon and White in the foil.

Gorloff, Burns and Staples carried Lafayette against William & Mary, going a perfect 9-0 in the contest. Shindell and Jennings, meanwhile, won the final two bouts in the epee to complete a comeback from 4-3 down.

Shindell, Burns and Gorloff each went 3-0 against the Terrapins in the nightcap, and Mange picked up two more points in the foil, but the Terrapins won 13 of the other 15 bouts to sneak away with a win.

Burns (8-4) and Mange (7-5) each posted above .500 records on the afternoon, and each moved over .500 for the season as a result. Burns has a 20-16 record in 2015-16, while Mange is now 25-23 overall.

The Leopards are back in action next Sunday, traveling to Hoboken, N.J. for more all-day MACFA competition.