On the day of Super Bowl XXXVIII, the No. 3 Penn State men's and women's fencing teams did something that no one in the NFL could do all year.

Win in Boston.

Both teams competed in the Brandeis/MIT Invitational yesterday against six other teams. Each team finished 6-0 for the day. The men's team is now 9-2 and the women's team 10-1 for the season.

"We did a pretty good job," Penn State coach Emmanuil Kaidanov said. "[The win] was an expected result. They have proven their strength and overall I am very happy with them."

The men's team took on No. 9 Harvard and No. 10 New York University(NYU). They beat them 17-10 and 19-8, respectively. They also beat Brown 23-4, Boston College 23-4, MIT 23-4 and the host, Brandeis 20-7.

The women's team dealt with only one ranked team, Harvard and beat them 19-8. They beat Brown 20-7, Boston College 23-4, MIT 25-2, NYU 18-9 and Brandeis 23-4.

Penn State also had to deal with a few injuries. Saber fencer Ian Farr did not travel with the team due to a concussion. Matt Gillig, Layne Vashro and Paul Jagielski rotated to fill in.

"Ian was really missed, but it was a good experience for our substitutions," saber fencer Marten Zagunis said. "They were really able to prove that even though they're second string, they're not bad fencers."

On the women's team senior Heather Brosnan, still hampered with an injured ankle, competed sparingly. She went 6-1. Her replacement, Sophia Hiss, finished 14-2.

After a tiring day of fencing from 9 a.m until 6 p.m., the results came as planned.

"We definitely pushed our way through today," said Zagunis, who went 12-2. "We were not supposed to lose, and we didn't."