January 23, 1999

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The second-ranked Notre Dame men’s and fourth-ranked women’s fencing teams both went 3-1 in their opening day of competition. Both squads lost to top ranked and four-time defending national champions Penn State.

The Irish men were led by strong showings from sabremen Luke LaValle who finished 9-2, Gabor Szelle who registered a 10-1 mark and Andre Crompton who had 11 wins and one loss. With the sabre squad leading the way, Notre Dame defeated Haverford 24-3, sixth-ranked Pennsylvania 19-8 and third-ranked Stanford 14-13. Freshman Brian Casas registered a 8-4 record highlighting the men’s epee squad, while senior captain Stephane Auriol led the foil team with a 6-4 mark.

In their match with Penn State the Irish lost 14-13. The match came down to the final bout in which Penn State’s epeeist Brendan Baby defeated Casas 5-1.

The Notre Dame women opened their day with a 31-1 victory over Haverford. The Irish then went on to defeat ninth-ranked Pennsylvania 21-11 and edged second-ranked Stanford on indicators. Irish three-time All-Americans Myriah Brown and Sara Walsh finished the day 10-4 and 8-0 respectively. Pacing the women’s epee squad was the tandem of Nicole Mustilli who went 11-4 on the day and Magda Krol who finished with a 12-4 record. Though Walsh and Mustilli were undefeated (4-0 and 3-0, respectively) against Penn State, the Irish fell to the top ranked Nittany Lions 23-9.

The Irish will head to New York tomorrow and take on Columbia, NYU and St., John’s.