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Irish Finish Opening Weekend Undefeated

Day 2 ResultsWomen’s Match ReportMen’s Match Report

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The University of Notre Dame fencing team did not skip a beat in the opening weekend of the 2021 fencing season. Both the men’s (5-0) and women’s squad (6-0) finished the weekend undefeated after two days at the Ohio State Invitational.

The women’s foil squad was at it once again on Sunday, compiling a 24-3 record through the three matches and they finished the weekend with a combined record of 50-4. Reigning ACC foil champion Stefani Deschner went 8-0 on Sunday to finish the weekend undefeated with a 17-0 combined record. Miriam Grady also went undefeated (8-0) on the day and finished the weekend with a 15-2 mark. Freshman Kaylin Hsieh continued to impress after going 7-0 and ended the weekend 15-1.

On the men’s side, Jared Smith completed the undefeated weekend after going 6-0 on Sunday and a 12-0 combined record. Luke Linder went 3-0 on the day and ended his first collegiate weekend with a 10-1 mark. Nick Itkin (5-0) and Stephen Ewart (6-0) also went undefeated on the day in their first weekend back with the Irish after taking last season off.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Notre Dame women picked up where they left off in the first match of the day against Temple. The Irish defeated the Owls 21-6 and had four athletes post a 3-0 mark including Grady, Hsieh, Deschner and Amita Berthier.

Both teams took on Air Force in the second round of matches on the day and the men and women both delivered big wins. The women picked up their most dominant win of the weekend after taking down the Falcons 26-1 and a total of six Irish (Pirkowski, Yefremenko, Berthier, Elizondo, Greenbaum & Kudriavtseva) notched 3-0 records. The men also picked up their most dominant win of the weekend with a score of 22-5. Smith, Andrew Machovec and Ewart all tallied 3-0 marks in the win over the Falcons.

In both team’s final matchup of the weekend, they squared up against the Nittany Lions for the second time. The men and the women walked away 2-0 against the Nittany Lions after heading back to South Bend with another win. The men defeated Penn State 21-6 with 3-0 records from Smith, Ewart, Nick Itkin and Marcello Olivares. The women tallied a 20-7 win over Penn State after Hsieh, Grady and Deschner all went 3-0.

UP NEXT

The Irish will have a week off before returning to the strip on Sunday, February 22. The Irish will make the short trip up to Evanston, Illinois to take part of the Northwestern Duals. It will be the final dual meet for the Irish before the ACC Championships on February 27-28.

RESULTS

Ohio State Invitational
French Field House
Columbus, OH
Feb. 7, 2021

Women’s Results
Notre Dame 21, Temple 6
Sabre (5-4): Atara Greenbaum 2-1, Kara Linder 2-1, Daria Kudriavtseva 1-1, Neve Harrison 0-1
Foil (8-1): Stefani Deschner 3-0, Amita Berthier 3-0, Jane Caulfield 2-1
Epee (8-1): Kaylin Hsieh 3-0, Miriam Grady 3-0, Amanda Pirkowski 2-1
Notre Dame 26, Air Force 1
Sabre (8-1): Greenbaum 3-0, Kudriavtseva 3-0, Linder 2-1
Foil (9-0): Berthier 3-0, Isabelle Elizondo 3-0, Deschner 2-0, Caulfield 1-0
Epee (9-0): Pirkowski 3-0, Dasha Yefremenko 3-0, Grady 2-0, Hsieh 1-0
Notre Dame 20, Penn State 7
Sabre (5-4): Linder 2-1, Kudriavtseva 2-1, Greenbaum 1-2
Foil (7-2): Deschner 3-0, Berthier 2-1, Elizondo 2-1
Epee (8-1): Grady 3-0, Hsieh 3-0, Pirkowski 2-1

Men’s Results
Notre Dame 22, Air Force 5
Sabre (8-1): Jared Smith 3-0, Luke Linder 2-0, George Bivins 2-0, Malcolm Fields 1-1
Foil (8-1): Andrew Machovec 3-0, Nick Itkin 2-0, Joseph Marino 2-1, Marcello Olivares 1-0
Epee (6-3): Stephen Ewart 3-0, Ariel Simmons 1-1, Joshua Zhang 1-2, Hunter Candreva 1-0
Notre Dame 21, Penn State 6
Sabre (7-2): Smith 3-0, Fields 2-1, Linder 1-0, Bivins 1-1
Foil (8-1): Itkin 3-0, Olivares 3-0, Machovec 2-1
Epee (6-3): Ewart 3-0, Zhang 2-1, Simmons 1-2

—ND—