NOTRE DAME, Indiana — The top-ranked Notre Dame women’s fencing team and second-ranked men’s fencing team are back on campus to host the annual DeCicco Duals at the Castellan Family Fencing Center. Action gets underway Saturday at 8 a.m. and will conclude Sunday afternoon.
WHAT: DeCicco Duals
WHEN: Saturday-Sunday, January 25-26
WHERE: Castellan Family Fencing Center | Notre Dame, Ind.
LINKS: @NDFencing | Weekend Schedule
DECICCO DUALS
Notre Dame hosts the seventh annual DeCicco Duals on campus this weekend starting with a varsity competition on Saturday and a varsity and club competition on Sunday. The Irish will face seven varsity programs on Saturday starting with Denison.
On Sunday, the Irish will battle a bevy of club and varsity programs starting with Case Western Reserve at 9 a.m.
Last year at DeCicco, both Irish squads went undefeated throughout the weekend. On Saturday, the men’s squad had five fencers record at least eight wins while the women’s team had five fencers reach double-digit wins, including four that went undefeated.
On Sunday, Nine women and 10 men turned in undefeated score sheets Sunday as neither team won by less than 19 points. The Irish women won three matches — against Purdue, Indiana and Denison — by perfect 27-0 scores, and the women’s sabre squad never lost a bout.
Notre Dame Match Schedule
Saturday
8 a.m. – vs. Denison
9 a.m. – vs. Detroit Mercy
10 a.m. – vs. Lawrence
11 a.m. – vs. Wayne State
12 p.m. – vs. Northwestern
1 p.m. – vs. Cleveland State
2 p.m. – vs. Florida
3 p.m. – vs. Cleveland State
Sunday
9 a.m. – vs. Case Western Reserve
10 a.m. – vs. Chicago
11 a.m. – vs. Indiana
12 p.m. – vs. Michigan
1 p.m. – vs. Michigan State
2 p.m. – vs. Purdue
3 p.m. – vs. Wisconsin
SIRICO NAMED ACC WOMEN’S FENCER OF THE WEEK
After a strong weekend at the St. John’s Invitational and Philadelphia Invitational, graduate student epeeist Amanda Sirico was named the ACC Women’s Fencer of the Week. She tallied a 13-5 record over the weekend, including wins over a number of top-ranked teams. She tallied 3-0 records against No. 3 Columbia twice and No. 8 St. John’s.
LAST TIME OUT
At the St. John’s Invitational, the women’s squad scored victories over No. 4 Harvard (18-9), No. 5 Ohio State (16-11), No. 8 St. John’s (14-13) while dropping matches to No. 6 Penn State (16-11) and No. 3 Columbia (16-11). All three squads finished with similar records, foil led the way at 24-21 while sabre and epee finished 23-22 on the day.
Sophomore sabreur Kara Linder paced the women’s squad with a 10-5 mark throughout the day. Junior foilist Stefani Deschner just missed the 10-win mark after going 9-4 and Sirico led the epee squad after going 7-2.
The Irish men started the Philadelphia Invitational with a victory over No. 8 Yale behind Jared Smith’s three wins. Linder led the way for the women, recording three victories in the 15-12 loss.
The women then responded with a strong 25-2 win over NYU. Julia Barry, Morgan Partridge, Samantha Viqueira, Natalie Disher, and Reghan Ward each tallied three wins to help the Irish dominate the Bobcats. The Irish men also defeated NYU thanks to 3-0 records from Harrison Kimatian and Alessandro Contreras.
In a top-three matchup, the Irish women came out on top, defeating No. 3 Columbia, 17-10. Led by Isabelle Elizondo, Dasha Yefremenko, Sirico, and Partridge, the quadruplet dominated with three victories each. The Irish men fell, 19-8, to the top-ranked Lions.
Competing against No. 8 St. John’s for the second time in as many days, the Irish women earned the weekend sweep with a 15-12 win. Ward and Sirico won simultaneous bouts knotted at 12 to clinch the match. The men also earned the win over the No. 7 Red Storm, 14-13. Contreras’ second 3-0 performance of the day led the Irish to the top-10 win.
—ND—