Feb. 11, 2006
LaJOLLA, Calif. – The Notre Dame fencing teams capped one of the most successful regular seasons in the program’s storied history by each going 6-0 in Saturday’s action at the UC San Diego Duals, as the top-ranked Irish women and the No. 2 men completed the season with matching 29-1 records. Their .968 combined winning percentage (58-2) represents the eighth-best overall team win pct. in the 30 years that Notre Dame has sponsored both men’s and women’s varsity fencing teams.
The top matchup of the day saw the Notre Dame men defeat 9th-ranked Stanford (17-10), with the Irish women adding a 20-7 victory over the Cardinal. Notre Dame also swept three teams featuring multiple NCAA Tournament veterans – Air Force (18-9 men, 22-5 women), Cal State Fullerton (22-5 in both) and UC San Diego (20-7 men, 18-9 women). The Irish wrapped up the day by sweeping their first-ever matches versus Cal Tech (25-2 men, 26-1 women) and then defeating Army (22-5 men, 21-6 women) to complete the unbeaten day.
Noteworthy wins for the Irish fencers at the UCSD Duals included sophomore epee captain and Granger native Greg Howard’s 5-4 victory over Air Force All-American Tim French. Howard went 9-3 to finish the season 44-9 while pushing his career record to 80-17 (.825), the sixth-best career win pct. (.835) ever by a Notre Dame men’s epeeist.
Juniors Patrick Ghattas (5-3) and Matt Stearns (5-1) added key wins over Stanford freshman sabre sensation Teddy Levitt while sophomore foilist Jakub Jedrkowiak jumped out to a 4-1 lead on Stanford All-American Steve Gerberman before being edged, 5-4.
Notre Dame sabre standout Mariel Zagunis suffered just her third regular-season loss in two seasons of action with the Irish (75-3), dropping a 5-1 bout to Stanford’s Eva Jellinson. Zagunis finishes the 2005-06 regular season with a .958 win pct. (46-2), the eighth-best win pct. in a season ever by a Notre Dame women’s fencer (best in sabre) and a mark bested by just nine previous Notre Dame men’s fencers (including four in sabre).
Zagunis will enter her junior season with a .962 career win pct. (75-3) that ranks third-best ever by a Notre Dame women’s fencer – behind foilists Maria Panyi (.980; 146-3) and Sara Walsh (.970; 231-7) – and is fifth-best by any Notre Dame fencer, also trailing former men’s sabre standouts Leszek Nowosielski (.980; 97-2) and Mike Sullivan (.979; 183-4).
The Irish now have won 95.2 percent of their regular-season bouts (197-10) in four seasons under the direction of head coach Janusz Bednarski.
The ND-Stanford men’s match was tied 3-3 before the Irish won five straight bouts – with 5-3 wins by freshman foilist Mark Kubik (vs. Richard Fulton), Howard (vs. Clayton Kenney) and Ghattas (vs. Levitt), followed by sophomore foilist Jakub Jedrkowiak’ s 5-4 bout vs. Dan Tucker and Thanhouser’s 5-2 win over NCAA Tournament veteran Curtis Andrus.
The Irish women also were tied early with Stanford (3-3) before reeling off eight straight wins from eight different fencers, with Jellison’s upset of Zagunis snapping the run.
The Notre Dame men later were tied with Air Force (4-4) before posting nine straight wins to put the match away.
Former Notre Dame coach Yves Auriol and his wife Georgette were among the ND supporters at UCSD, as was recent All-America foilist Derek Snyder.
The sabre team (44-10) posted the top record at UCSD among the Irish men’s teams, led by Ghattas (12-0), Thanhouser (14-1) and Stearns (10-2). The sabre team’s .807 season win pct. (218-52) completes an impressive surge by the unit, which won just 75% of its bouts in ’04-’05. Ghattas (51-5) posted the ninth-most wins in a season ever by an ND men’s sabre fencer while extending his career record to 131-16 (.891), the 10th-most wins ever by an ND men’s sabreist (30th among all ND men’s weapons) and the 9th-best career win pct. in ND men’s sabre history (14th among all men’s weapons). Stearns completed a 33-10 season while becoming the 63rd ND men’s fencer ever to reach 100 career wins (now 109, good for 53rd all-time). Thanhouser completed his impressive rookie season with a 41-10 record.
The men’s foil team (.733; 198-72) also saw a huge jump in its win pct. from a year ago (.694).Kubik (9-4) ends his freshman regular-season bouts with a 44-16 record, good for the 11th-most wins in ND men’s foil history. Junior Frank Bontempo (10-3 UCSD; 34-18 season) pushed his career win total to 119, good for 42nd in all of ND men’s fencing history. Jedrkowiak (10-3) capped his second season with a 38-13 record and now is 85-20 in regular-season bouts with the Irish (.810).
Howard was one of four ND men’s epeeists who went over 40 wins for the season after the bouts at UCSD, with the others including freshman Karol Kostka (9-4; 43-11) and juniors Patrick Gettings (13-4; 42-8) and Jesse Laeuchli (9-3; 40-8).
Overall, the Notre Dame men (630-180) boosted their win pct. from .767 in 2004-05 to .778 in ’05-’06. The 29 team wins ties the ND men’s record set in 1996 (29-3) while the 630 bouts won are an all-time high in ND men’s fencing history, besting the 606 in ’96.
The ND women combined to win 80.9 percent of their bouts at UCSD (131-31), led by the epeeists (46-8) plus strong showings in sabre (43-11) and foil (42-12). The team’s 29 wins for the season and 660 bouts won both tie for 4th-best in ND women’s fencing history.
The women’s epeeists (217-53) completed a strong season in which they won 80.4% of their bouts, a big boost from ’04-’05 (.760). Fifth-year senior Becca Chimahusky (7-2 at UCSD; 50-12 season) completes her regular-season career with a 144-55 career record, the 10th-most wins in ND women’s epee history (26th among all women’s weapons). Freshmen Madeleine Stephan (15-1; 59-15) and Kim Montoya (12-2; 37-7) – who trains at Auriol’s Las Vegas Fencing Club – completed their impressive debut seasons while junior captain Amy Orlando (12-3; 43-15) will enter her senior season with a 128-38 career record that represents the 11th-most wins and 9th-best win pct. (.771) in ND women’s epee history.
Freshman Ashley Serrette (9-7) pushed her season record to 57-25, breaking the ND record for women’s sabre wins in a season (56, by Maggie Jordan in ’03). Junior Valerie Providenza (15-0) went unbeaten at UCSD for the third-most wins ever in a season by an ND women’s sabre fencer (54-8) while remaining second in career women’s sabre wins (140-23) and career win pct. (.859; 15th among all ND women’s weapons). Her classmate Angela Vincent (13-3; 39-10) now owns the 3rd-most career wins in ND women’s sabre history (131-32), also 5th in career win pct. at .804 (29th among all ND women’s fencers).
Sophomore foilist Melanie Bautista closed the regular season with a 14-3 record, yielding a 59-18 season mark while pushing her career win total over the century mark (106-25) for an .809 win pct. that ranks 27th in ND women’s fencing history. Her classmate Rachel Cota added a 9-3 record at UCSD (29-7 season) while freshman Emilie Prot was 12-3 for a season record of 56-12. Notre Dame’s other top rookie foilist, Adi Nott (44-6), did not compete at UCSD due to a Junior World Cup conflict in France.