Feb. 3, 2012
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame fencing team, fresh off a sweep of the Notre Dame Duals, draws its regular season to a close Saturday at the Northwestern Duals at the Patten Gymnasium in Evanston, Ill. The event, which gets underway at 9:00 a.m. (ET), sees the Irish take to the strip for a total of 14 matches.
The women, who rank third nationally, enter the weekend with an overall record of 18-5 after going a perfect 12-0 at the Notre Dame Duals, while the men, ranked fourth nationally, enter with a 24-5 overall record after matching the women with a 12-0 mark at the Notre Dame Duals.
Action is split into two segments on Saturday with the women beginning an eight-match docket at 9:00 a.m. and running through approximately 4:30 p.m., while the men take to the strip starting at 3:30 p.m. for the start of six matches that run through approximately 8:30 p.m. The women face off against North Carolina, Duke, Stanford, UC-San Diego, Temple, Cal Tech, Princeton and Stevens Tech, in that order, while the men fence Duke, UC-San Diego, North Carolina, Princeton, Cal Tech and Stanford, respectively.
A large contingent of Notre Dame fencers will make the trip for the day’s action, including 19 members of the women’s team and 20 members from the men’s side. Rachel Beck, Adriana Camacho, Grace Hartman, Christina LaBarge, Darsie Malynn, Radmila Sarkisova and Madison Zeiss represent women’s foil, while Gabriel Acuna, Reggie Bentley, Enzo Castellani, Nicholas Crebs, Grant Hodges, Nickolas Kubik, Alan Markow and Ryan Murphy are set to fence for men’s foil.
In women’s sabre, a six-member group of Beatriz Almeida, Danielle Guilfoyle, Abigail Nichols, Lian Osier, Kathryn Palazzoto and Marta Stepien are set to compete, while Jason Choy, Alexander Coccia, Keith Feldman, Marcel Frenkel, Kevin Hassett and William Meckling represent the men. Epee, meanwhile, consists of Nicole Ameli, Caroline Dikibo, Channing Foster, Phenix Messersmith, Stephanie Myers and Diane Zielinski on the women’s side with Albert He, James Kaull, Ryan McDonough, Jack Piasio, Dale Purdy and Michael Rossi ready for the men.
Setup for the matches will see each contest fenced on three strips with matches that are running long moving to double strips in order to stay close to schedule. For those in the area, admission is free of charge and if unable to attend be sure to check back with UND.com upon conclusion of the event for a recap of the day’s action.
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