Jan. 27, 2007
The Notre Dame fencing teams have embarked on their annual trip to New York this weekend for the NYU Duals, to be held on Sunday, Jan. 28, at NYU’s Coles Sport Center. The Irish are making their eighth trip to the NYU Duals in the past nine years (all but 2003), with a 40-12 record at the event during the current decade. Notre Dame is slated to face five opponents (plus an optional round) in this year’s nine-team meet. The elite field includes four of the top six team finishers from the 2006 NCAAs – Ohio State (3rd), Notre Dame (4th), Columbia (5th) and St. John’s (6th) – as well as Yale, NYU, Stevens Tech and Midwest squads Northwestern and Wayne State. The NYU Duals will showcase some of the nation’s top collegiate individual talent in men’s sabre (12 former NCAA participants), women’s foil (9), men’s epee (10) and women’s epee (9).
Notre Dame – ranked 4th nationally in the USFCA women’s poll and 5th in the men’s rankings – will open the 2007 NYU Duals versus Yale at 8:00 a.m., followed by matchups with Columbia (9:15; #4 men, #2 women), the host team NYU (10:30), St. John’s (11:45; #6 men and women) and finally a split match at 1:30 – when the Irish women will face their regional rival Northwestern (#5-ranked) and the men will fence Stevens Tech. There also is an optional round versus Ohio State, scheduled for 2:45 (OSU is #2 in the men’s poll and #6 in the women’s).
Key matches for both the Notre Dame men’s and women’s squads will come against Columbia and St. John’s (plus some potential bouts with OSU). In the Janusz Bednarski era (beginning with the 2002-03 season), the Notre Dame men are 3-0 against Columbia (winning 14-13 in ’04, 16-11 in ’05, and 15-12 in ’06) while the women are 1-2 against the Lions, dropping decisions the past two years (11-16 in ’05, 9-18 in ’06) after edging Columbia in 2004 (14-13). During the same time period, the Irish men have split their meetings with St. John’s – with a 9-18 loss in 2004 followed by a 17-10 win two years later – while the women’s team owns two victories against the Red Storm (18-9 in 2004, 16-11 in ’06).
Notre Dame could potentially meet Ohio State again – replaying last weekend’s close matches (14-13 to the ND women, 14-13 to the OSU men) – while the man’s matchup with Stevens Tech will be the first meeting between the two programs.
NOTRE DAME IN THE BIG APPLE – The Notre Dame fencers have been familiar faces at the NYU Duals in recent years, competing every year since 1999 with the exception of 2003 … during the current decade (2000-06), the Notre Dame fencing teams are a combined 40-12 at the NYU Duals (21-5 in women’s competition, 19-7 in men’s)
Notre Dame at the NYU Duals (during current decade)
2000 – men 2-2, women 4-0 (6-2 combined)
2001 – men 4-0, women 1-3 (5-3 combined)
2002 – men 4-0, women 3-1 (7-1 combined)
2004 – men 4-1, women 5-0 (9-1 combined)
2005 – men 3-1, women 2-2 (5-3 combined)
2006 – men 4-1, women 4-1 (8-2 combined)
TOTALS (2000-06) – men 21-5, women 19-7 (40-12 combined)
U.S. FENCING COACHES ASSOCIATION POLL – The first USFCA poll, announced last week, had the Notre Dame men debuting at No. 5 while the Irish women earned the No. 4 spot … Notre Dame owns the fifth-best combined poll standing, trailing Harvard (#1 men, #3 women), Penn State (#1 women, #3 men), Columbia (#2 women, #4 men) and Ohio State (#2 men, #6 women) … the NYU Duals will be host to nine ranked squads, with the Northwestern women (#5) and both St. John’s teams (#6 men and women) joining each squad from Notre Dame, Ohio State and Columbia … here’s a look at the complete polls:
U.S. Fencing Coaches Association Poll (Jan. 19, 2006)
MEN
1. Harvard
2. Ohio State
3. Penn State
4. Columbia
5. Notre Dame
6. St. John’s
7. Pennsylvania
8. Stanford
9. Air Force
10. Princeton
Others receiving votes – Rutgers, Duke, Brandeis, NYU, North Carolina, Yale, UC San Diego, Wayne State, Cal State Fullerton
WOMEN
1. Penn State
2. Columbia-Barnard
3. Harvard
4. Notre Dame
5. Northwestern
6. Ohio State
(tie) St. John’s
8. Pennsylvania
9. Temple
10. Stanford
Others receiving votes – Princeton, Yale, Duke, UC San Diego, North Carolina, Wayne State, Cornell, Air Force, Rutgers, Brandeis
RECORD BOOK UPDATE – Last weekend’s action at the Notre Dame Duals saw a number of Irish fencers climb the charts in the Notre Dame all-time records … senior sabreist Valerie Providenza’s 11 wins helped her crack the top 25 of the women’s individual career wins and her career mark of 151-25 is good enough for 23rd among all weapons (2nd among sabreists to Destanie Milo’s 166) while her career percentage of .858 keeps her at 15th among all weapons (second to teammate Mariel Zagunis’ .962) … senior epeeist Amy Orlando (143-41/.777) is on the cusp of the top 25, needing three more wins to add her name to the list … two Notre Dame men’s fencers – senior epeeist Aaron Adjemian (107-38/.738) and junior foilist Jakub Jedrkowiak (106-21/.835) – broke the 100-victory mark last Sunday … Adjemian’s win total ties him with foilist Marc DeJong (107-27/.799) for 56th place among all weapons while Jedrkowiak sits two spots behind in 58th with Dan Yu (106-18/.855) … junior epeeist Greg Howard (98-22/.817) is two wins shy of reaching the career century mark … senior foilist Frank Bontempo (134-57/.702) now is 29th on the all-time wins chart … senior sabreist Matt Stearns (121-32/.791) jumped 11 places to 42nd on the same list, tying him with John Edwards (121-20/.858) who reached his mark in sabre and foil … the perfect 8-0 mark by the Irish women’s squad at last weekend’s Notre Dame Duals extended the women’s win streak, which began in January of 2006, to 30 matches, good enough for 6th place in ND women’s fencing history … the men’s loss to Ohio State snapped their streak at 23 wins (tying for 11th all-time in ND men’s fencing).
NYU DUALS PREVIEW – Here is a look at some of the top opponents (all are former NCAA participants) who Notre Dame is expected to fence on Sunday, along with their previous NCAA finishes and history against current Notre Dame fencers.
Junior epeeist Greg Howard posted a 5-2 win over Benjamin Bratton at the 2006 NYU Duals, picking up a rare win over the St. John’s standout who was the 2004 NCAA runner-up (photo by Pete LaFleur).
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MEN’S EPEE
Phil Andrews (NYU, 19th at ’05 NCAAs, 23rd/’06) – Andrews is 3-2 in recent bouts with current ND fencers, owning a pair of wins over Aaron Adjemian (5-3 at ’06 NYU Duals; 5-4 at ’05 NCAAs) and a victory over Karol Kostka (5-3, ’06 NCAAs), plus losses to Adjemian (5-1, ’06 NCAAs) and Kostka (5-3, ’06 NYU).
Benjamin Bratton (St. John’s, 2nd/’04, 10th/’05, 9th/’06) – the 2004 NCAA runner-up is 5-2 with four wins over Adjemian (5-3, ’04 NYU,’06 NYU and ’05 NCAAs; 5-2, ’06 NCAAs), a split against Kostka (5-4 win, ’06 NYU; 5-4 loss, ’06 NCAAs), and a loss to Greg Howard (5-2, ’06 NYU).
Michael Pearce (Yale, 5th/2006) – 3-1 with two wins over Adjemian (5-3, ’06 NYU; 5-1, ’06 NCAAs), one win over Howard (3-2, ’06 NYU) and a loss to Kostka (5-2, ’06 NCAAs).
Adam Rodney (St. John’s, 6th/2006) – 3-2 with pair of wins over Kostka (5-2, ’06 NYU; 5-4, ’06 NCAAs), a split against Adjemian (5-3 win, ’06 NYU; 5-4 loss, ’06 NCAAs) and a loss to Howard (5-2, ’06 NYU).
Dwight Smith (Columbia, 7th/2006) – 5-0 with a pair of wins over both Adjemian (4-3,’06 NYU, 5-3, ’06 NCAAs) and Kostka (5-2, ’06 NYU; 5-4, ’06 NCAAs) and a victory over Howard (5-1, ’06 NYU).
MEN’S FOIL
Calvin Chen (Columbia, 18th/2006) – 3-1 with two wins against Frank Bontempo (5-2, ’04 NYU; 5-4, ’04 NCAAs), a victory over Jakub Jedrkowiak (5-4, ’06 NCAAs) and a loss to Mark Kubik (5-0, ’06 NCAAs).
Henry Kennard (St. John’s, 6th/2004, 13th, 2005) – 2-1 with a pair of wins over Bontempo (5-1, ’04 NYU; 5-2, ’04 NCAAs) and a loss to Jedrkowiak (5-4, ’06 NCAAs).
Scott Sugimoto (Columbia, 6th/2005, 3rd/2006) – 6-4 with a pair of wins each over Bontempo (5-3, ’06 NYU; 5-2, ’05 NYU) and Jedrkowiak (5-4, ’06 NYU; 5-0, ’05 NYU) and one victory each against Kubik (3-2, ’06 NCAAs) and Diego Quinonez (5-2, ’05 NYU); losses to Kubik (5-3, ’06 NYU), Bontempo (5-4, ’04 NYU) and two to Jedrkowiak (5-2, ’05 NCAAs; 5-3, ’06 NCAAs).
Two-time NCAA runner-up Patrick Ghattas – who did not fence at last week’s ND Duals due to a World Cup conflict – rallied from a 3-0 deficit to beat Columbia’s Alex Krul (5-3) at the 2004 NYU Duals, with that bout giving the Irish men a thrilling 14-13 win over the Lions (photo by Matt Cashore).
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MEN’S SABRE
Nijmy Cadet (St. John’s, 17th/2005) – 1-4 with a pair of losses each to Patrick Ghattas (5-0, ’06 NYU; 5-1, ’05 NCAAs) and Matt Stearns (5-2, ’06 NYU; 5-3, ’05 NCAAs); lone win is over Bill Thanhouser (5-2, ’06 NYU).
Luther Clement (St. John’s, 8th/2006) – 2-3 with wins against Thanhouser (5-2, ’06 NYU) and Stearns (5-2, ’06 NCAAs), a pair of losses to Ghattas (5-0, ’06 NYU; 5-2, ’06 NCAAs) and one loss to Stearns (5-1, ’06 NYU).
Alex Diacou (Columbia, 15th/2006) – 1-4 with two losses to Ghattas (5-0, ’06 NYU; 5-2, ’06 NCAAs), and one loss each to Stearns (5-4, ’06 NCAAs) and Thanhouser (5-2, ’06 NYU); his lone victory is over Stearns (5-3, ’06 NYU).
Alex Krul (Columbia, 6th/2004, 6th/2005) – 6-5 record against ND; three wins each over Ghattas (5-3, ’06 NYU; 5-4, ’05 NYU, ’04 NCAAs) and Stearns (5-3, ’06 NYU; 5-4, ’04 NYU; 5-2, ’05 NCAAs); two losses each to Ghattas (5-3, ’04 NYU; 5-1, ’05 NCAAs) and Stearns (5-2, ’05 NYU; 5-3, ’04 NCAAs) and one to Thanhouser (5-4, ’06 NYU).
Christopher Peterson (Yale, 20th/2005) – 0-3 with a pair of losses to Ghattas (5-0, ’04 NYU; 5-1, ’05 NCAAs) and one to Stearns (5-2, ’05 NCAAs).
Nikita Tsukhlo (St. John’s, 18th/2006) – 2-3 record includes one win each over Ghattas and Stearns (both 5-3, ’06 NCAAs) with losses to Ghattas (5-2, ’06 NYU), Stearns (5-2, ’06 NYU) and Thanhouser (5-4, ’06 NYU).
James Williams (Columbia, 5th/2006) – 5-4 record includes three wins over Stearns (5-3, ’05 NYU; 5-3, ’04 NYU; 5-2, ’06 NCAAs), and one win each over Thanhouser (5-1, ’06 NYU) and Ghattas (5-2, ’06 NCAAs); has lost three times to Ghattas (5-2, ’06 NYU; 5-3, ’05 NYU; 5-3, ’04 NYU) and once to Stearns (5-3, ’06 NYU).
Sophomore epeeist Kim Montoya’s noteworthy wins in the 2005-06 season included bouts with Columbia’s Rache Rowe (5-3), NYU’s Lauren Willock (5-3) and Northwestern’s Courtney DuBois (5-4) (photo by Matt Cashore).
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WOMEN’S EPEE
Joanna Guy (St. John’s, 10th/2005, 20th/2006) – 1-3 record includes one win over Kim Montoya (4-3, ’06 NYU) and three losses to Amy Orlando (5-3, ’06 NYU; 2-1, ’06 NCAAs; 5-2, ’05 NCAAs).
Morgan Midgley (Columbia, 12th/2006, 3rd/2005) – 4-0 with all four wins over Orlando (5-3, ’06 NYU; 3-1, ’05 NYU; 3-2, ’05 NCAAs; 5-3, ’06 NCAAs).
Rachel Rowe (Columbia, 22nd/2006) – a 2-3 record against ND, with a split against Orlando (wins include 5-2, ’06 NYU; 4-3, ’05 NYU; losses are 4-3, ’04 NYU; 5-2, ’06 NCAAs) and one loss to Montoya (5-3, ’06 NYU).
Alexie Rubin (Columbia, 12th/2004; 12th/2005) – 3-1 with three wins against Orlando (5-2, ’05 NYU; 2-1, ’04 NCAAs; 3-2, ’05 NCAAs) and one loss to the Irish senior (5-2, ’04 NYU).
Reka Szele (St. John’s, 13th/2005, 8th/2006) – has lost all three of her bouts to Orlando (5-3, ’06 NYU; 3-2, ’05 NCAAs; 2-1, ’06 NCAAs).
Lauren Willock (NYU, 8th/2005) – the NYU captain is 1-4 with her lone win being over Orlando (4-3, ’05 NYU); has three losses to Orlando (5-3, ’06 NYU; 5-4, ’04 NYU; 5-4, ’05 NCAAs) and one to Montoya (5-3, ’06 NYU).
Courtney DuBois (Northwestern, 23rd/2005) – owns just a 2-7 record in college bouts vs. Orlando, with recent matchups including a split in 2005-06 season (5-3 Dubois win at Northwestern Duals; 5-4 Orlando win at ND Duals) and Orlando’s 5-3 win at the 2005 NCAAs; Montoya beat Dubois at the ’06 Northwestern Duals (5-4).
Spirited junior foilist Melanie Bautista already owns top career victories over several noteworthy opponents, including wins over Columbia’s Kelsey Finkel, Yale’s Kathleen Reckling and Midwest rivals Jessica Flordendo and Sam Nemecek of Northwestern (photo by Matt Cashore).
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WOMEN’S FOIL
Kelsey Finkel (Columbia, 13th/2006) – 3-2 record includes one win each over Melanie Bautista (4-3, ’06 NYU), Adrienne Nott (5-1, ’06 NYU) and Emilie Prot (5-0, ’06 NYU) and losses at the ’06 NCAAs to Bautista (4-3) and Nott (5-0).
Katia Larchanka (St. John’s, 13th/2005, 7th/2006) – undefeated 5-0 mark includes a pair of wins over both Bautista (5-3, ’06 NYU; 5-2, ’06 NCAAs) and Nott (5-1, ’06 NYU; 5-3, ’06 NCAAs) and one over Prot (5-2, ’06 NYU).
Cassidy Luitjen (Columbia, 10th/2004, 11th/2005) – has yet to fence any of the current Irish women’s foilists.
Alisa Mendelsohn (Yale, 14th/2004, 19th/2005) – 1-2 against ND with lone win coming against Colleen Walsh (5-2, ’04 NYU) and narrow losses to Bautista (4-3, ’06 NYU) and Nott (5-4, ’06 NYU).
Kathleen Reckling (Columbia, 12th/2006) – a near-perfect 6-1 mark is only blemished by her loss to Nott (5-4, ’06 NYU); wins include two over Bautista (5-2, ’06 NYU; 4-1, ’06 NCAAs) and one each over Prot (5-4, ’06 NYU), Walsh (5-1, ’04 NYU), Nott (5-3, ’06 NCAAs) and Rachel Cota (5-2, ’05 NYU).
Diana Schawlowski (Yale, 16th/2005) – 3-0 with one win each over Bautista (5-0, ’06 NYU), Prot (5-2, ’06 NYU) and Walsh (5-1, ’06 NYU).
Jessica Florendo (Northwestern, 12th/2005, 5th/2006) – went 5-9 last season in 2005-06 bouts vs. the top ND fencers; split four bouts last season vs. Bautista (including 5-4 loss at Northwestern, 5-4 win at ND, 5-4 loss at NCAAs); Bautista also beat Florendo twice as a freshman (5-4 at both ND Duals and Midwest Regional); Florendo was 2-3 vs. Nott last season, including a win at home (5-3) plus losses at ND (5-2), in the Regional semifinals (15-13) and in the NCAAs (5-2); Prot’s freshman season included a 4-1 record vs. Florendo, winning at Northwestern (5-1), at ND (5-2), in the MFC semifinals (15-14) and in the MFC team match (5-4) before losing at the Regional (15-12).
Sam Nemecek (Northwestern, 8th/2006) – finished one bout above .500 (8-7) in her bouts last season vs. ND’s top-3; went 3-2 vs. Bautista, winning at ND (5-1) and in the MFC individual and team bouts, while losing at home (3-2) and in the NCAAs (5-0); her 4-2 record vs. Nott included wins at ND (5-4), in the MFC semifinals (15-3), in the Regional final (15-7) and in the NCAAs(5-1), plus losses at home (5-2) and in the MFC individual bouts (3-2) … Prot had the best showing vs. Nemecek in ’05-’06 (3-1), winning at Northwestern (5-4), at ND (5-3) and in the MFCs (15-9) while Nemecek won their Regional bout (15-12).
Valerie Providenza’s win over Columbia’s Emily Jacobson at the 2005 NCAAs (pictured) helped fuel Notre Dame’s rally to the national title (photo by Pete LaFleur).
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WOMEN’S SABRE
Emily Jacobson (Columbia, 1st/2005, 2nd/2006) – has a 4-1 record with all bouts coming against Valerie Providenza; bested Providenza at the ’06 NYU Duals (5-1), ’05 NYU Duals (5-2), ’05 NCAAs (15-13 semifinal) and ’06 NCAAs (5-3) but lost to Providenza in the ’05 NCAA round-robin (5-3).
Olga Ovtchinnikova (St. John’s, 10th/2006) – 2-1 record includes one win over Ashley Serrette (5-0, ’06 NYU) and a split against Providenza (5-4 win, ’06 NYU; 5-4 loss, ’06 NCAAs).
Mai Vu (Northwestern, 16th/2005, 18th/2006) – owns just a 1-7 career record in college bouts vs. Providenza, including 5-1 losses at the 2005 and ’06 NCAAs; split a pair of bouts last season vs. Serrette (5-2 win at home, 15-11 loss at MFCs).