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Irish Close Out Weekend With Wins In Philly

Jan. 21, 2018

By Joanne Norell

PHILADELPHIA – The University of Notre Dame’s No. 1 men’s and women’s fencing teams wrapped competition at the Philadelphia Invitational on Sunday at the Tse Center at the University of Pennsylvania, with each team recording 4-1 records on the day. Each team defeated top-10 foes in Penn (No. 7 men, No. 9 women) and St. John’s (No. 8 men/No. 10 women).

The Irish women improved to 13-1 on the season, while the men sit at 9-4 on the year.

How It Happened

Wayne State

Both Irish teams coasted in wins over the Warriors to start the day, with the men prevailing 25-2 and the women posting a 22-5 decision.

The men got perfect performances from its epee and foil teams, with Zachary Cheng (epee), Nicholas Hanahan (epee), Zachary Zeller (epee), Michael Antipas (foil), Joseph Marino (foil) and Bobby Wong (foil) each going 3-0. In sabre, David Brown also went 3-0, including a win over 2017 NCAA runner-up Ziad Elsissy.

For the women, Marie-Anne Roche (epee), Katherine Wallace (epee), Isabelle Elizondo (foil) and Sabrina Massialas (foil) each went 3-0 against Wayne State. Erica Tsai (foil) and Maddie Gallagher (sabre) were 2-0, as well.

NYU

The Irish men defeated NYU 16-11, while the women put together a 23-4 victory.

Freshman foilist Nick Itkin went 3-0, as did Hanahan in epee for the men. Axel Kiefer (foil), Hazem Khazbak (foil), Jonathan Fitzgerald (sabre) and Jonah Shainberg (sabre) were 2-1 in the match. For the women, Jamie Norville went 3-0 in sabre, while Massialas, Elizondo, Julia Barry (epee) and Regina O’Brien (sabre) each went 2-0.

Penn

The Irish men got a big performance from senior captain Shainberg to clinch a 14-13 win over the Quakers. The Irish women also won, 21-6.

Shainberg went 3-0 against Penn and clinched the match at 14-12 in what proved to be a one-point contest. Ariel Simmons (epee) and Itkin also went 3-0 in the match. On the women’s side, Sirico, Russo, Reghan Ward (sabre) and Morgan Partridge (foil) posted 3-0 marks.

Columbia

The Irish women fell for the first time this season in a weekend rematch with No. 2 Columbia, with the Lions winning 17-10. The men also fell to Columbia, 16-11.

Hassett and Sirico went 2-1 for the women, while Stephen Ewart (epee) and Dylan French (epee) were 2-1 for the men.

St. John’s

The men’s foil team led the Irish to a 14-13 win over the Red Storm, going a collective 8-1 while the sabre squad when 6-3. Itkin and Axel Kiefer each went 3-0 in the match, while Fitzgerald and Shainberg were also 3-0 in sabre.

It was a similar story for the women, whose foil team went 9-0 in Notre Dame’s 17-10 victory. Viqueira and Partridge went 3-0, Massialas was 2-0 and Deschner added a 1-0 mark. Sirico also went 2-0 in epee.

Philadelphia Invitational
Tse Center
Philadelphia, Pa.
Jan. 21, 2018
Men’s Results
No. 1 Notre Dame 25, Wayne State 2
Epee: Zachary Cheng 3-0, Nicholas Hanahan 3-0, Zachary Zeller 3-0
Foil: Michael Antipas 3-0, Joseph Marino 3-0, Bobby Wong 3-0
Sabre: David Brown 3-0, Arsenii Panteleev 2-1, Ben Scholl 2-1
No. 1 Notre Dame 16, NYU 11
Epee: Hanahan 3-0, Dylan French 1-1, Zeller 1-0, Cheng 0-1, Ariel Simmons 0-2
Foil: Nick Itkin 3-0, Axel Kiefer 2-1, Hazem Khazbak 2-1
Sabre: Jonathan Fitzgerald 2-1, Jonah Shainberg 2-1, Panteleev 0-3
No. 1 Notre Dame 14, No. 7 Penn 13
Epee: Simmons 3-0, Hanahan 2-1, Ewart 1-2
Foil: Itkin 3-0, Khazbak 1-2, Kiefer 0-3
Sabre: Shainberg 3-0, Fitzgerald 1-2, Panteleev 0-2, Brown 0-1
No. 2 Columbia 16, No. 1 Notre Dame 11
Epee: French 2-1, Ewart 2-1, Simmons 0-2, Hanahan 0-1
Foil: Itkin 1-2, Kiefer 1-2, Khazbak 1-2
Sabre: Panteleev 1-0, Brown 1-1, Shainberg 1-2, Fitzgerald 1-2,
No. 1 Notre Dame 14, No. 8 St. John’s 13
Epee: Ewart 0-3, Simmons 0-3, French 0-3
Foil: Itkin 3-0, Kiefer 3-0, Khazbak 2-1
Sabre: Fitzgerald 3-0, Shainberg 3-0, Brown 0-3

Women’s Results
No. 1 Notre Dame 22, Wayne State 5
Epee: Marie-Anne Roche 3-0, Katherine Wallace 3-0, Katherine Clarke 2-1
Foil: Isabelle Elizondo 3-0, Sabrina Massialas 3-0, Erica Tsai 2-0, Finnula Mageras 0-1
Sabre: Maddie Gallagher 2-0, Regina O’Brien 2-1, Christina Boitano 1-0, Jamie Norville 1-2
No. 1 Notre Dame 23, NYU 4
Epee: Barry 2-0, Wallace 2-1, Roche 2-1, Clarke 0-1
Foil: Massialas 2-0, Mageras 2-0, Elizondo 2-0, Stefani Deschner 1-0, Morgan Partridge 1-0, Elyssa Kleiner 0-1
Sabre: Jamie Norville 3-0, O’Brien 2-0, Boitano 1-1, Gallagher 1-0
No. 1 Notre Dame 21, No. 9 Penn 6
Epee: Sirico 3-0, Barry 2-1, Roche 1-2
Foil: Partridge 3-0, Deschner 2-1, Kleiner 2-1
Sabre: Russo 3-0, Ward 3-0, Hassett 2-0, Claudia Kulmacz 0-1
No. 2 Columbia 17, No. 1 Notre Dame 10
Epee: Sirico 2-1, Barry 1-2, Roche 0-2, Wallace 0-1
Foil: Kleiner 1-2, Deschner 0-3, Partridge 0-3
Sabre: Kulmacz 2-0, Hassett 2-1, Russo 2-1, Ward 0-1
No. 1 Notre Dame, No. 10 St. John’s
Epee: Sirico 2-0, Roche 1-2, Wallace 0-1, Barry 0-3
Foil: Viqueira 3-0, Partridge 3-0, Massialas 2-0, Deschner 1-0
Sabre: Hassett 2-1, Kulmacz 1-0, Ward 1-1, Russo 1-2

–ND–

Joanne Norell, athletics communications assistant director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2014 and coordinates communications efforts for the Notre Dame men’s tennis and fencing programs, in addition to assisting with football communications and overseeing production of the football Gameday Magazine. Norell is a 2011 graduate of Purdue University and earned her master’s degree from Georgetown University in 2013.