Jan. 23, 2000
The Notre Dame men?s and women?s fencing teams opened their 2000 seasons this weekend with four meets at NYU today. The women swept all four meets, beating Columbia 19-8, NYU 22-5, Stanford 15-12 and edging St. John?s 14-13. Senior All-American Magda Krol won 10 foil bouts — including a win over 1999 NCAA women?s foil champion Monique de Bruin from Stanford — after switching to foil from epee, which she fenced during her first three years at Notre Dame. Freshman Liza Boutsikaris added seven foil wins, while freshman sabrewoman Natalia Mazur also won 10 bouts. Freshman Meagan Call and Anne Carnick paced the women?s epee squad with nine and eight wins, respectively. The Irish women?s sabre team went 4-0 to begin the first year of NCAA women?s sabre.
?I am very happy with the women?s results,? said head coach Yves Auriol. ?We have a young and inexperienced team, but we got contributions from everyone, and got results. Magda and Liza both beat Susan Jennings from Columbia, an all-American, and Magda gave us a big win against Monique de Bruin of Stanford.?
The men finished with a split after defeating Columbia 18-9 and NYU 20-7 and losing 16-11 to St. John?s and 14-13 to Stanford after the Cardinal won the final deciding bout 5-4. Sophomore sabreman Andre Crompton and freshmen epeeist Jan Vivian and foilist Forest Walton each won eight to bouts to lead the men?s team. Freshman foilist Ozren Debic and sophomore sabreman Gabor Szelle added seven wins each.
?Generally, our foil and epee teams fenced well against strong competition,? saidAuriol. ?Against St. John?s our sabre team was very disappointing. You can?t afford to be less than your best against good teams like Stanford and St. John?s.?
The Irish return to the strip next weekend at the Joyce Center Fieldhouse when Notre Dame plays host it first home meet of the season. Among the teams competing will be five-time defending NCAA champion Penn State, Air Force, Duke and Ohio State. The men fence on Sat., Jan. 29, and the women on Sun., Jan. 30.