March 23, 2011
Coach Bednarski – NCAA Preview
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Twelve members of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish fencing team will participate in this weekend’s NCAA Championships, which begin on Thursday, March 24 in Columbus, Ohio. The four-day event will take place at the Gordon Track Center and will be hosted by Ohio State University. Notre Dame qualified the maximum 12 fencers for the fifth consecutive season, as they will send four fencers to compete in each weapon (two men and two women). The Irish contingent will be in pursuit of the program’s eighth national title.
Representing Notre Dame at the championship in women’s epee are Courtney Hurley (San Antonio, Texas) and Ewa Nelip (Katowice, Poland). Junior C. Hurley will be making her third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Championships. In her first two appearances at the Championships, she has garnered First Team All-America honors with a pair of third-place finishes. Nelip returns to the NCAAs for the third time in her Irish career and first since ’09 after missing last season while competing with the Polish National Team. In her first two appearances, Nelip also has claimed two First Team All-American nods with a pair of third-place finishes.
In women’s foil, Hayley Reese (Crestwood, Ky.) and Rachel Beck (Tucson, Ariz.) will compete for the Irish. Reese, a senior, will be making her fourth trip in as many seasons. Reese earned her best finish at the NCAA Championships in the 2009 season, finishing runner-up, while in 2008 she placed 11th and this past year she finished in fifth place. Beck, a freshman on the Irish roster, will get her first taste of the Championships with this appearance.
Senior Eileen Hassett (Beaverton, Ore.) and sophomore Lian Osier (Battle Ground, Wash.) will represent the Notre Dame women’s sabre squad. Hassett, making her fourth consecutive appearance, turned in back-to-back-to-back Second Team All-American performances, finishing fifth, sixth and seventh in 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively. In her second year with the Irish, Osier will be making her first appearance.
Notre Dame’s two championship qualifiers in men’s epee include James Kaull (Washinton, D.C.) and Brent Kelly (Grapevine, Texas). Kaull, a sophomore, will be making his second championship appearance after finishing as a Third Team All-American last year with a 10th-place finish. Kelly will be making his first appearance in his second full season with the Irish after transferring from Columbia.
The men’s foil will see two different members take to the strip from last season, as Ariel DeSmet (Troutdale, Ore.) and Reggie Bentley (Little Rock, Ark.) will be the representatives. Both DeSmet, a freshman, and Bentley, a junior, will be making their first career appearance at the NCAA Championships.
In men’s sabre, the team of Barron Nydam (Rancho Sante Fe, Calif.) and Avery Zuck (Portland, Ore.) will also be representing Notre Dame for the third consecutive year. Two seasons ago, Zuck earned Second Team All-American honors by finishing fifth, while last season he became a First Team All-American after earning a share of third place. Nydam has appeared each of the last three seasons, earning Second Team honors in 2008 with his sixth-place finish, and earned Third Team honors in each 2009 and 2010 by finishing 10th on each occasion.
In both 2008 and 2009, the Fighting Irish placed second at the NCAA Championships in Columbus, Ohio and State College, Pa., while last season the Irish finished third in Boston, Mass. Notre Dame has won the combined national championship in 1994, 2003 and 2005, with the 2003 and 2005 titles coming under the watch of current head coach Janusz Bednarski. The Fighting Irish claimed the men’s title in 1977, 1978 and 1986. The Notre Dame women also captured the NCAA crown in 1987.
The Venue
The competition will take place at Ohio State’s French Field House and St. John Arena, which is located at 460 Woody Hayes Drive in Columbus, Ohio
The Format
The men’s and women’s Fencing Championships include individual events in each of the six weapons (women’s foil, women’s epee, women’s sabre, men’s foil, men’s epee, men’s sabre).
Fencers will compete in a round-robin format of five-touch bouts. After the round-robin, the top-four fencers fence semifinal 15-touch bouts, with the winners fencing to determine first and second places, and the losers being awarded a tie for third place. Absolute ties for the seeding will be broken as follows: for positions one through three, by a coin toss; for position four, by a fence-off.
An institution’s place finish in the championships will be based on points earned by each individual. A team will be awarded one point for each victory by its student-athletes for the duration of the championships.
This year, the men’s events will be fenced on Thursday and Friday, with the women following on Saturday and Sunday. Group assignments and bout order will be released on Wednesday evening for the men and Friday afternoon for the women. Thursday will feature men’s rounds 1-4, while Friday will include men’s rounds 5-7, with the six semifinal bouts following simultaneously.
The men’s gold medal bouts will begin at 2:00 p.m. with an awards ceremony immediately following the final gold medal bout. The women’s rounds 1-4 will take place on Saturday, with rounds 5-7 and the six semifinal bouts following simultaneously on Sunday. In addition, Sunday will include the women’s gold medal bouts, beginning at 2:00 p.m. The women’s individual awards and the team awards presentations will follow the finals.
To The Max…
The Irish qualified the maximum 12 fencers for the NCAA Championship. Notre Dame has earned the right to send two fencers per weapon to the NCAA Championships for the ninth time. Notre Dame qualified 12 fencers for NCAAs from 2000-03, 2006, 2008-10.
Since the NCAA added women’s sabre to the Championship in 2000, teams sending 12 fencers to the NCAAs have won 10 of the 11 Championships contested. In 2005, Notre Dame won the title with only 11 qualifiers.
Since 2000, Notre Dame has qualified the most fencers for NCAA Championship play (141), followed closely by Penn State (139) and St. John’s (133). In that same time span, Notre Dame has qualified the maximum 48 fencers in sabre, joining St. John’s (sabre) and Penn State (foil) as one of only three schools to reach the maximum 48 qualifiers in a weapon group since the NCAA added women’s sabre.
The Competition
The Irish are expected to clash with a strong field for the 2011 championship. Notre Dame will be dueling it out with two-time defending national champion and fourth-ranked Penn State, who will send 11 fencers to the 2011 Championships. Two other schools qualified 12 fencers including homestanding Ohio State and Princeton, while traditional fencing rivals Harvard and St. John’s will be sending 11 fencers to the championship.
Still Streaking
The Irish women posted a perfect 29-0 regular season record to continue to extend their winning streak, which now dates back to the 2008 season. Overall, the women now enjoy a 88-match winning streak, which now stands as the longest unbeaten stretch in program history (previous best was 75 straight from 1993-96). The undefeated season marks the seventh time since 1977 that the squad has accomplished the feat.
The men, meanwhile, enjoyed another successful season that saw them post a 29-1 ledger. The streak extended to 80 straight before the team lost a 15-12 decision to then third-ranked St. John’s.
We’re Number One
The Notre Dame men’s and women’s fencing teams each remained atop their respective editions of the United States Fencing Coaches Association’s (USFCA) final polls of the 2011 season, it was announced on March 23.
The men and women have each remained atop the polls for the entirety of the 2011 season, as the men held off St. John’s in the final poll and the women held off Princeton for top billing.
At least one of the Irish fencing teams has now held sole possession of the top spot in 10 of the past 11 seasons (2001-06, 2008-11). Furthermore, the Notre Dame women now have been ranked number one in seven of the past eight years (all but `07).
As has become the custom on the Notre Dame campus, the traditional lighted #1 sign will remain atop Grace Hall, and a #1 flag will continue to fly outside the Irish athletic department offices at the Joyce Center.
NCAA Midwest Regional Recap
Freshman foilist Rachel Beck and senior sabreuse Eileen Hassett turned in gold medal performances at the NCAA Midwest Regional.
Beck entered final pool play as the fourth overall seed after going 4-2 with a +5 indicator in the second round of pool play. However in the final pool table the freshman posted a 7-2 record along with a +14 indicator to claim the gold. Reese finished one win behind Beck with a record of 6-3 and a +9 indicator, claiming the silver by virtue of a better touch margin than Ohio State’s Oksana Dmytruk, who won bronze.
Other Irish results in the foil saw Darsie Malynn finish fifth with a record of 5-4 and a +6 indicator, while Radmila Sarkisova finished sixth at 5-4 and a +0 indicator and Grace Hartman placed eighth at 4-5.
Hassett made it back-to-back gold medals at the NCAA Midwest Regionals after posting a near flawless final pool record of 8-1 with a +18 indicator. She entered as the final pool’s third seed after going 5-1 with a +11 indicator in the qualifying round. Last season Hassett held fellow teammate Sarah Borrmann to claim the title while this year it was her teammate Nichols that put together a gritty finals performance for the silver. Nichols ended with a 6-3 record and a +11 indicator to earn second over Allison Miller (6-3, +4) of Ohio State.
Lian Osier finished just outside the medals, claiming fourth place with a 5-4 record and a +5 indicator, while Borrmann finished sixth with an identical 5-4 record with a +2 indicator.
In epee, Nelip marked her return to NCAA postseason play with a silver medal performance that saw her go 8-1 with a +13 indicator to earn a spot in the direct elimination championship bout. She was unable to claim first, however, as Katarzyna Dabrowa of Ohio State held on for a 5-4 decision.
Hurley’s bronze medal performance was locked up by the junior putting together a 6-3 final pool record with a +16 indicator – the highest total of any of the final fencers – but due to the three losses she could finish no higher than third.
Diane Zielinski was the only other Irish entrant in epee competition, going 2-7 in the final pool and finishing ninth overall.
Freshman foilist Ariel DeSmet and senior sabreur Avery Zuck each earned gold medals on the men’s side on day two.
All told the Irish finished the two days with a total of 13 medals (out of a possible 18), winning at least two medals in each of the six weapons contested.
DeSmet captured the gold medal in foil with a dominant final pool, posting a perfect 9-0 record with a +31 indicator to hold off teammate Enzo Castellani, who finished with a stronger indicator of +32 but finished 8-1 after a 5-2 loss to DeSmet in head-to-head action.
Reggie Bentley closed out a sweep of the medals for the Irish in the weapon, claiming the bronze with a record of 6-3 and a +15 indicator.
In sabre, Zuck claimed his gold after earning silver in each of his last two appearances at the NCAA Midwest Regionals. The senior finished the final pool with a record of 8-1 and a +18 indicator to hold off Irish teammate Barron Nydam for the top spot. Nydam finished with a +21 indicator but a 7-2 record, which earned him the silver medal.
Freshman Kevin Hassett just missed out on the podium, finishing fourth amongst the final 10 with a 5-4 record and a +2 indicator. Alexander Coccia and Jason Choy finished sixth and seventh with records of 4-5 and 3-6, respectively, in final pool play.
While the Irish were unable to claim gold in men’s epee, James Kaull and Brent Kelly did claim the silver and bronze. Kaull concluded the final pool with a record of 6-3 and a +15 indicator to finish second, while Kelly finished with an identical record but a +12 indicator to place third.
Jacob Osborne finished fifth overall with a record of 5-4 and a +5 indicator in final pool play, while Greg Schoolcraft concluded in 12th place after going 1-5 in qualifying pool play.
Irish Crowned MFC Champions
The Fighting Irish men’s and women’s fencing teams each earned outright Midwest Fencing Conference (MFC) Championship titles, enabling Notre Dame to claim the overall MFC championship for the second consecutive year.
For the first time in the MFC’s 13-year existence, the Irish outlasted the other 19 teams in each of the six weapon brackets to claim every gold medal, also giving the Irish the outright title on the men’s and women’s side in back-to-back seasons.
In men’s epee action, the Irish squad entered the bracket seeded second and advanced to the championship bout with wins over Xavier (5-1), Cleveland State (5-0) and Northwestern (5-1). Notre Dame then ran into top-seeded Ohio State in the title bout, posting a clean sweep for a 5-0 decision over the Buckeyes.
The Irish also battled Ohio State in each of the other two men’s draws, with the top-seeded Irish foil squad knocking off the Buckeyes 5-2, and the top-ranked sabre squad claiming a 5-4 decision. Foil earned their way into the title fight with decisive wins over Lawrence (5-0), Wayne State (5-1) and Detroit (5-0).
The sabre team claimed their spot in the championships after defeating Minnesota (5-1), Lawrence (5-1) and Northwestern (5-1). In the title bout, the Irish fell behind 4-0 to Ohio State before recovering to reel of five consecutive bout victories to swipe victory from the clutches of defeat.
Women’s action also saw Notre Dame and Ohio State tussle in two of three weapons with the Irish coming out on top in epee (5-2) and sabre (5-3). The epee team reached the final bout with victories over Detroit (5-0), Oberlin (5-2) and Chicago (5-1) while the sabre unit racked up decisions over Lawrence (5-0), Wayne State (5-1) and Chicago (5-3).
The Irish foil team, entering as the draw’s second seeded unit, matched up against Northwestern in the title bout after advancing past Chicago (5-1), Michigan State (5-2) and Ohio State (5-3) in earlier rounds. The Wildcats held an early 2-1 lead in the championship bout before Notre Dame rebounded to take down each of the next four bouts to earn a 5-2 decision.
Both the men’s and women’s teams ended the tournament with the maximum 675 points to help claim the overall team title with 1,350 points. Ohio State concluded the tournament in second with 1,250 points and Northwestern rounded out the top three with 1,190 points.
Irish Strike Gold At MFC Championships
A day prior to earning the Midwest Fencing Conference team championship, the Irish took home two of the six individual gold medals on the day.
Hayley Reese was the first of the Irish to bring home gold, capturing the women’s foil in morning action, followed by Courtney Hurley claiming the epee gold in the afternoon session.
All told, the Irish won 15 medals (out of a possible 24 due to third place ties in each weapon) including two golds, four silvers and nine bronzes.
A live blog of each day of action will be provided at the bottom of this page and also be sure to check back for daily recaps of the Irish at the 2011 NCAA Championships.