JAMAICA, N.Y. — The number one ranked, University of Notre Dame fencing team took home both the men’s and women’s trophies at the St. John’s Invitational. The Irish defeated Ohio State (16-11 & 19-8), Harvard (25-12 & 20-7), St. John’s (14-13 & 21-6), and Columbia (14-13 & 15-12),to improve the men’s record to 17-0 and the women’s record to 20-0. All of Notre Dame’s opponents in this meet are top-ten ranked programs according to the U.S. Fencing Coaches Association.
In the match against Ohio State, the Irish men and women took down the Buckeyes in dominating fashion with wins 16-11 and 19-8. The men’s foil team saw two perfect bouts from Nick Itkin and Andrew Marchovec. The women’s team saw more perfect bouts from Kaylin Sin Yan Hsieh and Amanda Pirkowski. The match against Harvard continued the win streak with Hunter Candreva winning 3-0 as well as Nick Itkin with his second perfect bout of the day. The men finished against Harvard in a strong fashion 15-12. The women’s team dominated the Harvard match when Miriam Grady, Kaylin sin Yan Hsieh, Atara Greenbaum, and Kara Linder all scored perfectly. The Irish took down Harvard 20-7.
The Irish women continued to dominate when they took down St. John’s 21-6 with Amanda Pirkowski scoring a perfect bout in epee. The men’s team also took down St. Johns in a 14-13 win. Marcello Olivares and Andrew Machovec took perfect bouts to help propel the Irish to their win.
Both the men’s and women’s teams showed a strong finish against Columbia with comeback wins 14-13 and 15-12. The Irish men went into the final round of sabre bouts down 11-13. George Bivins, Alexandre Lacaze, and Jared Smith all collected wins to bring the Irish the win. It was much of the same story for the women when they collected their comeback win after being down 2-7, with a 3-0 win from Kara Linder.