NOTRE DAME, Ind. — For the second season in a row, senior foilist Stefani Deschner was named Women’s Fencing ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year. It is the third straight season at least one member of the Irish have claimed the Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.
Deschner is joined by three other Irish athletes on the ACC All-Academic Team. She is joined by teammates Miriam Grady, Stephen Ewart and Ariel Simmons. Simmons and Ewart earn their first Academic All-ACC honor while Grady earns her third consecutive accolade.
The Versailles, Kentucky native continued her strong play on the strip after a breakout junior season. She completed an undefeated regular season with a 17-0 record heading into the NCAA Championships. At NCAA’s, Deschner advanced to the semifinals and defeated teammate Amita Berthier to advance to the foil finals. In the finals, she scored the first seven touches of the match and ended up claiming the foil championship 15-9.
With the win, she claimed her first career individual championship and was the first women’s foil champion from Notre Dame since Lee Kiefer back in 2017.
Deschner is working towards a degree in Pre-Professional Studies and Theology. Back in February, she was named one of the ACC Postgraduate Scholarship recipients. She is a three-time All-ACC Academic Team honoree and has made the Dean’s List six times.
2021 All-ACC Academic Fencing Team
Men
Stephen Ewart, Notre Dame, Jr., Business Analytics
Samuel Gruber, Duke, So., Biology
Finn Hossfeld, Duke, So., Public Policy
Connor Head, North Carolina, So., Undecided
Bin Huang**, Boston College, So., Finance
Stephen Kim, Duke, Fr., Undeclared
Spencer Kuldell**, Boston College, Jr., Comp Science
Bolang Meng***, Boston College, Jr., Finance
Jason Post, Duke, So., Undeclared
Reza Merchant, North Carolina, Fr., Undecided
James Mulligan**, North Carolina, Jr., Environmental Sciences
Alec Mulvaney, North Carolina, Fr., Undecided
Beni Rabinowitz***, North Carolina, Sr., Information Sciences and Computer Science
Brycen Rushing****, Duke, Sr., Mechanical Engineering
Henry Shugart, North Carolina, So., Statistics and Analytics
Ariel Simmons, Notre Dame, Sr., Business Analytics
Women
Huda Aldadah***, Duke, Jr., Electrical and Computer Engineering
Stefani Deschner***, Notre Dame, Sr., Pre Professional Studies
Christina Ferrari, Duke, Fr., Undeclared
Julia Gianneschi****, Duke, Sr., Psychology
Alex Gorman**, Duke, Jr., Public Policy and International Comparative Studies
Miriam Grady***, Notre Dame, Jr., Science-Business
Gillian Lawlor***, Boston College, Sr., Elementary Ed & Applied Psych/Human Dev.
Aubrey Molloy, North Carolina, Jr., Global Studies
Maria Papadopoulos***, Duke, Sr., Biology and Environmental Science and Policy
Abigale Parker, North Carolina, So., Economics
Zoe Superville***, Duke, Jr., Computer Science
Louise Tang, Duke, Fr., Undeclared
Samantha Yeh, Boston College, Fr., Undeclared
Anneke Zegers, Duke, So., English
Bold denotes ACC Fencing Scholar-Athletes of the Year
* denotes individual’s number of All-ACC Academic honors
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