Feb. 9, 2001
DURHAM, N.C. – The Notre Dame men’s fencing team likely will head into the 2001 postseason as the nation’s top-ranked team, after completing an undefeated regular season Friday with five wins at the Duke Open-highlighted by an 18-9 victory over current No. 1 Stanford.
Notre Dame (25-0) now owns the fifth-longest dual match winning streak in the program’s history, as the Irish have defeated 41 consecutive opponents-stretching back to consecutive losses to Stanford and St. John’s early in the 2000 season. The current winning streak-which included a win over St. John’s at the NYU Open-is the longest since the 1990-93 Irish men combined to win 50 straight.
“I’m very proud of the team,” said Irish head coach Yves Auriol. “Beating Stanford is a great accomplishment and they will be more than a handful at the NCAAs.(March 22-25 in Madison, Wis.) … but so will we.”
Notre Dame’s unbeaten season is the 17th in the program’s 65-year history, the 13th since 1976 and the first since the 1994 team went 21-0. Only two previous Irish men’s squads-’76 and ’86-have posted more wins during an undefeated season (both were 26-0).
Friday’s action also saw Notre Dame post wins over North Carolina (24-3) , eighth-ranked Air Force (18-9), Duke (23-4) and Ohio State (20-7). The seventh-ranked Irish women face the same five opponents on Saturday.
Stanford-which finished fourth and just eight points behind the runner-up Irish at the 2000 NCAA combined fencing championship-was set to return all five of its 2000 men’s All-Americans but was hampered Friday by the loss of sabreman David LaValle (brother of former Irish All-American Luke LaValle)-who placed seventh at the 2000 NCAAs but was unable to go Friday due to injury.
The Cardinal were forced to shift All-America foilist Alex Wood to sabre and the Irish capitalized by winning eight of nine sabre bouts while posting narrow wins (five matches to four) in the foil and epee competition.
Notre Dame never trailed against Stanford match and broke open a tight 5-4 match by reeling off seven straight wins-including two each by senior All-America sabreman Andrzej Bednarski and senior epeeist Scott Gabler, plus single wins in that stretch by sophomore epeeist Jan Viviani, sophomore foilist Ozren Debic and junior epeeist Brian Casas (each are former All-Americans). Debic clinched the win by beating Mark Mulholland, 5-1.
Junior All-America Gabor Szelle and his classmate Andre Crompton both won all three of their sabre bouts versus the Cardinal while Viviani and Casas posted 2-1 records in the big matchup with Stanford.
In a rematch of the 2000 NCAA foil title bout, Stanford’s Felix Reichling nipped Debic, 5-3 (Reichling beat Debic for the 2000 NCAA title, 15-10).
Friday capped a dominating season for the Irish men’s sabre squad, which won 37 of 45 bouts at the Duke Open while posting a 187-38 overall season record (.831). The squad’s deep foursome of Szelle, Crompton, Bednarski and junior Matt Fabricant combined to win nearly 89 percent of their matches during the 2000 season (146-17, .885).
INSIDE THE IRISH RECORD BOOK
- With the conclusion of Notre Dame’s regular season (next up are the Midwest Championships, Feb. 24-2t at Notre Dame), several veterans maintained their lofty status in the Notre Dame record book while others entered it.
- Szelle went 10-1 on Friday, yielding a 37-3 season record while pushing his career record to 134-8. He remains third all-time at Notre Dame for career winning pct. (.944, with former sabremen holding down the top two spots) while moving up to 19th on the all-time wins list (sixth all-time in sabre).
- Debic (84-6, .933) remains sixth on Notre Dame’s all-time winning pct. list (first in foil), after his 13-1 showing on Friday pushed his season record to 42-2 (.955, the third-best season winning pct. by an Irish foilist).
- Bednarski’s 7-1 day produced a 26-4 season and 119-21 career mark, good for 33rd on the all-time wins list.
- Casas (117-45) now ranks 36h on the Irish career wins list (11th among epeeists), after his 9-6 day produced a 40-20 season record.
- Viviani (75-11, .872) now ranks first on the Irish career winning pct. list for epeeists (22nd overall), among epeeists who fenced more than one year (Jan Tivenius went 45-3 in his lone season, ’83). Viviani closed with a 14-1 mark on Friday for a 44-4 season that ranks as the fifth-best season winning pct. (.917) in Irish men’s epee history.
- Crompton (12-2 Friday, 43-7 season) moved into a tie for 37th on the Irish career wins list (111-16) while ranking 21st in career winning pct. (.874) … Fabricant (8-4, 40-5) ranks 18th on the career wining pct. list (.875, 63-9, 10th among sabremen) while junior foilist Steve Mautone (9-5, 30-13) now is tied for 37th on the Irish career wins list (111-44).
- Gabler reached 40 wins for the season after going 7-6 on Friday (40-15, 56-18 for his career) … other folists in action on Friday included junior Jeremy Beau (2-1, 17-6, 44-10) and sophomore Forest Walton (11-3, 36-12, 66-19).
DAY 1, DUKE INVITATIONAL – February 9, 2001
Notre Dame Men 25-0
(2nd in USFCA Coaches Poll)
Notre Dame 24, North Carolina 3
Notre Dame 18, (8)Air Force 9
Notre Dame 18, (1) Stanford 9
Notre Dame 23, Duke 4
Notre Dame 20, Ohio State 7
RECORDS
| ? | PREV. | UNC | AFA | STAN | DUKE | OSU | DAY | SEA | CAR. |
| M-Epee | |||||||||
| Brian Casas | 31-14 | 2-1 | 0-3 | 2-1 | 3-0 | 2-1 | 9-6 | 40-20 | 117-45 |
| Scott Gabler | 33-9 | 1-1 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 3-0 | 1-1 | 7-6 | 40-15 | 56-18 |
| Adam Harvey | 9-5 | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | 9-5 | 9-5 |
| Mike Macauley | 7-4 | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | 7-4 | 7-4 |
| Ben Rooney | 0-2 | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | 0-2 | 0-3 |
| Nick Schumacher | 5-6 | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | 5-6 | 5-6 |
| Dave Tyler | 13-9 | 0-1 | —- | —- | —- | 1-0 | 1-1 | 14-10 | 14-12 |
| Jan Viviani | 30-3 | 3-0 | 3-0 | 2-1 | 3-0 | 3-0 | 14-1 | 44-4 | 75-11 |
| ? | ? | 6-3 | 4-5 | 5-4 | 9-0 | 7-2 | 31-14 | 159-66 | ? |
| M-Foil | |||||||||
| Jeremy Beau | 15-5 | 1-0 | —- | —- | 1-0 | 0-1 | 2-1 | 17-6 | 44-10 |
| Dave Belczyk | 1-5 | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | 1-5 | 1-5 |
| Leo Bloschock | 11-6 | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | 11-6 | 16-11 |
| Matt Castellan | 17-3 | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | 17-3 | 17-3 |
| Ozren Debicc | 29-1 | 2-0 | 3-0 | 2-1 | 3-0 | 3-0 | 13-1 | 42-2 | 84-6 |
| Sean Donovan | 1-6 | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | 1-6 | 1-6 |
| Adam Habig | 2-4 | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | 2-4 | 2-4 |
| Shaun Harris | 6-5 | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | 6-5 | 11-6 |
| Steve Mautone | 21-8 | 3-0 | 2-1 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 2-0 | 9-5 | 30-13 | 111-44 |
| Forest Walton | 26-9 | 3-0 | 2-1 | 2-1 | 2-0 | 2-1 | 11-3 | 36-12 | 66-17 |
| ? | ? | 9-0 | 7-2 | 5-4 | 7-2 | 7-2 | 35-10 | 163-62 | ? |
| M-Sabre | |||||||||
| Andrzej Bednarski | 19-3 | 2-0 | 1-0 | 2-0 | 2-1 | —- | 7-1 | 26-4 | 119-21 |
| Andr? Crompton | 31-5 | 3-0 | 0-2 | 3-0 | 3-0 | 3-0 | 12-2 | 43-7 | 111-16 |
| Matt Fabricant | 32-1 | 3-0 | 3-0 | 0-1 | 1-1 | 1-2 | 8-4 | 40-5 | 63-9 |
| Matt Peters | 7-3 | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | 7-3 | 8-3 |
| Neal Salisian | 11-8 | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | 11-8 | 11-8 |
| Joe Shonkwiler | 9-6 | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | 9-6 | 9-6 |
| Gabor Szelle | 27-2 | 1-0 | 3-0 | 3-0 | 1-0 | 2-1 | 10-1 | 37-3 | 134-8 |
| George Viamontes | 14-2 | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | —- | 14-2 | 30-6 |
| ? | ? | 9-0 | 9-0 | 8-1 | 7-2 | 6-3 | 37-8 | 187-38 | ? |