Notre Dame Endures at Northwestern Duals

Feb. 1, 2014

Evanston, Ill. – The University of Notre Dame’s fencing team once again put in a command performance at the Northwestern Duals, out-dueling opponents from schools nationwide in eight grueling rounds.

Starting at 8:00 a.m., the women’s squad posted a definitive 20-7 win over Stanford. Sabreists Johanna Thill, Allison Barry and Mary Regan won their weapon class 5-4, and remained in the rotation throughout the day. In women’s foil, Nicole McKee, Sarah Followill and Adriana Camacho posted a shutout with a 9-0 victory. In epee, Nicole Ameli, Catherine Lee and Ashley Severson finished the win with a 6-3 record.

Differing slightly from other invites, the men’s and women’s squads squared off against different teams in each round. The men dropped the first round bout against Penn, 19-8, but came back in the second round against Princeton, they pulled off the upset and won 15-12. Sabre and epee both posted 5-4 marks, and the foil squad – competing without captain Gerek Meinhardt – won 6-3.

In the second round, the women’s squad out-touched Duke to win 16-11, and after a series of back and forth bouts with defending NCAA Champion Princeton, the Tigers emerged victorious in the third round fight, 17-10.

The men fought extremely well against North Carolina in the third round, winning 18-9. The men’s sabre squad comprised of Kevin Hassett, Alex Coccia, John Hallsten and Billy Meckling won 5-4, and were followed by the foil squad with a rotation of Gabriel Acuna, Ryan Murphy, Alan Markow, Nick Kubik and Kristjan Archer. The foil squad won, 6-3, but what was perhaps most impressive was the men’s epee squad. Boasting Garrett McGrath, Mikhail Heber, Arthur Le Meur, Dale Purdy, and John Poremski, the epeeists won 7-2, their best record in a head-to-head match so far.

In the fourth round, the women suffered another loss to Penn, 16-11, and the men’s squad had a bye.

Moving into the fifth round, fatigue caught up to both Irish squads, as the women were narrowly out-dueled by Temple, and the Stanford Cardinal combatants out-touched the men to win 15-12. The men’s squad had another bye in the sixth round, whereas the women pulled together and beat North Carolina 16-11.

In the seventh round, the women easily bested UC San Diego, 22-5. The men went back and forth with the Duke Blue Devils, but sadly were not able to pull out the win as Duke went up 14-13. They made up for it in the eighth and final round, where the women’s team had a bye, and they ousted the Lawrence Vikings 24-3. The epee squad impressed once more, with a 9-0 undefeated record.

The Irish return to the Castellan Family Fencing Center next weekend to host the renamed DeCicco Duals. For all results, check back to und.com/fencing throughout the season.

–ND–