SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notre Dame fencing wrapped up a dominating weekend of going undefeated at their home meet, the 2023 DeCicco Duals. The Fighting Irish hosted teams from Wayne State, Florida, Lawrence, Detroit Mercy, Cleveland State, Denison, Purdue, University of Chicago, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, and Case Western Reserve.
The men’s team moves to 18-3 on the season while the women’s team holds a 19-2 season record.
DAY 1
On the first day of the DeCicco Duals, the women’s team defeated Wayne State 24-3. The saber squad was perfect as Kaitlyn Hulseburg, Emily Chang and Simran Moolchandaney all posted 3-0 records against the Warriors. The foil squad of Tiaji Lukins, Ariadna Tucker and Daeuna Talavera all went 2-1 in the match. The epee team posted undefeated records as Victoria Tontcheva and Erica Cucala went 3-0, Anne Myler finished 2-0 and Miriam Grady went 1-0. The men’s team posted a 20-7 win over Wayne State. Epee finished with a 6-3 record with Riley Robinson finishing his bouts 3-0. Joshua Zhang won two bouts, and Austin Guo won one to help the epee team to their win. Foil was dominated by Jason Zhao who went 3-0 with Paulo Morais and Jack Oursler contributing 2-1 records each. Saber saw Henry Nadile go 3-0 and Konrad Czyewski go 2-0. Grant Dodrill also posted a 2-1 record to get the Irish to their win.
The Irish took on Florida next where the women’s team posted a 26-1 win and the men’s team took a 25-2 win. The women’s team had nine members go undefeated in the match against the Gators. Myler, Tontcheva, Cucala, Mayah Walker, Julia McKenna, Zoe Barnette, Kate Apelian, Emily Chang, Yiyi Andrea Niu, Hulseburg and Moolchandaney all dominated their bouts. The men’s team was much of the same story when Gareth Spiteri, Sebastian Wozniak, Zhang and David Wozniak all posted undefeated records for the epee squad. Ethan Augustine, Philip Dority, William Chen, Zhao, and Morais competed for the foil squad where they only dropped two bouts, finishing 7-2. Saber had an undefeated record with Nadile, Dodril and Czyzewski all going undefeated for a 9-0 finish.
Moving on throughout the day, the Irish took on Lawrence and Detroit Mercy. The women’s team took a 24-3 win against Lawrence while the men took a 20-7 win. The women’s foil team posted a 9-0 win with Rebeca Candescu, Nicole Pustilnik, Paige Luong, and Ariadna Tucker all going undefeated. Foil posted a 7-2 win with Tontcheva, Myler, Cucala and Grady all posting wins to claim the victory. Saber only dropped one bout in the match but Emily Chang, Hulseberg and Moolchandaney propelled the Irish to clinch the match. The men’s team clinched the match at 14-1 in their 20-7 victory. Foil finished the match undefeated with bouts from Morias, Dority and Oursler. Epee dominated with bouts from Robinson, Spiteri, and Zhang that claimed the win. Saber had a close matchup but took the win in a 5-4 fashion. Nadile and Will Attig took undefeated records.
The men’s and women’s team didn’t give Detroit Mercy a single point when Tontcheva Cucala, Myler, Walker, Talavera, McKenna, Chang, Niu, Hulseberg and Moolchandaney all went undefeated for the women’s team and on the men’s team Nick Candela, Spencer Vermeule, Hunter Candreva, David Wozniak, Zhang, Zhao, Ethan Augustin, Morias, Nadile, Czyzewski and Attig all powered the Irish to a shutout.
The final two matches of the day against Cleveland State and Denison showed off the Irish domination again. The women’s team took down Cleveland State 23-4 and the men’s team 21-6. On the women’s side Cucala, Grady, Candescu, Pustilnik, Luong, Karina Yaroshenko, Atara Greenbaum, Kara Linder and Hulseberg all picked up wins for the Irish. Foil took a perfect 9-0 run, saber took an 8-1 finish, and epee posted a 6-3 record. The men’s side saw saber take a perfect 9-0 finish with foil going 7-2, and epee going 5-4. Spiteri, Zhang, Chen, Augustin, Dority, Attig, Nadile and Czyzewski all took wins in their bouts.
The Irish closed out the first day of the duals with a shutout against Denison. The men’s team dominated going perfect across the board thanks to Zhang, Spiteri, Robinson, Chen, Augustine, Zhao, Oursler, Nadile, Czyzewski, and Attig. The women’s team was the same story with wins from Myler, Grady, Tontcheva, Cucala, Candescu, Luong, Pustilnik, Apelian, Lukins, Linder, Chang and Greenbaum.
DAY 2
The second day of the duals featured Purdue, University of Chicago, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, and Case Western Reserve.
The Irish kicked things off going up against the Boilermakers. The women’s team only gave up one bout winning 26-1 and the men’s team 25-2. The epee and saber teams on the women’s side posted 9-0 wins, and foil posted an 8-1 win. Myler, Tontcheva, Talavera, Cucala, Walker, McKenna, Barnette, Apelian, Chang, Hulseberg, and Moolchandaney all propelled the Irish to the win. The men’s team had the epee squad post a perfect 9-0 and the foil and saber squads post 8-1 records. Spiteri, Robinson, Guo, Zhao, Morais, Augustine, Oursler, Dodrill, Zhang, Czyzewski, and Attig all helped the Irish to their win. The men’s team saw nine undefeated bouts and the women’s team had ten.
The second match of the day was against the University of Chicago where the women’s team posted a 25-2 victory and the men’s team a 21-6 win. Myler, Cucala, Talavera, Tontcheva, Apelian, Barnette, Tucker, and Hulseberg all posted 3-0 wins with Moolchandaney and Niu both posting 2-1 records. On the men’s side, Sebastian Wozniak, Robinson, Dodrill, and Attig all posted 3-0 records with Oursler, Zhao, Morais, Czyzewski posting 2-1 records.
The women’s team blanked Michigan winning 27-0. Myler, Tontcheve, Cucala, Apelian, McKenna, Tucker, Walker, Chang, Hulseberg, and Niu all contributed to the Irish win. The men’s team took the victory over Michigan in a 22-5 fashion. Robinson, Sebastian Wozniak, Augustine, Morais, Czyzewski, Dodrill and Attig all won their bouts 3-0 and Vermeule finished 2-1. The men’s saber squad went undefeated in the match.
The men’s team shut out Michigan State in a 27-0 victory. Morais, Vermeule, Robinson, David Wozniak, Oursler, Spiteri, Zhang, Dodrill, Czyzewski, Attig and Augustine all fenced to propel the Irish to their victory. The women’s team won against the Spartans 25-2 with undefeated records coming from Myler, Tucker, Cucala, Walker, Apelian, Lukins, Chang, Hulseberg, Moolchandaney and Niu.
The Irish only gave up one bout in the men’s match against Indiana. Robinson, Vermeule, Morais, Spiteri, David Wozniak, Zhang, Dodrill, Augustine and Zhao all posted winning records. The women’s team blanked the Hoosier’s with all three weapons going undefeated. Cucala, Myler, Tontcheva, Lukins, Talavera, Barnette, Chang, Niu and Moolchanadaney all helped get the Irish to their win.
In the final match of the weekend for the Irish, the women’s team beat Case Western Reserve 27-0. The victory came thanks to the undefeated records of Tucker, Tontcheva, Myler, Barnete, McKenna, Walker, Chang, Niu, and Moolchanadaney. The men’s team posted a 23-4 victory over the CWRU Spartans. Robinson, Vermeule, Zhang, Augustine, and Dodrill took 3-0 victories. Morais, David Wozniak, Zhao and Oursler all posted winning records as well.
The Irish are back in action with a trip to Evanston, Illinois for the Northwestern Duals on February 4 and February 5.