Eileen Hassett paced the Irish sabre team, going 11-3 on the opening day of women's competition at the 2011 NCAA Championships.

Irish Maintain Lead After Day Three At 2011 NCAA Championships

March 26, 2011

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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The University of Notre Dame fencing team concluded the third day of action the same way in which it entered, holding a six-point lead over Penn State after Saturday’s action at the French Field House. The Irish women claimed a total of 49 points between the three weapons.

Overall the Irish currently sit with 139 points, while Penn State’s 133 is good for second place and St. John’s occupies third with 123 points. Ohio State and Princeton share fourth place with 114 points.

In what has taken on the feel of a two-horse race for the National Championship, the Irish secured 19 points in both sabre and epee with 11 in foil, while Penn State earned 19 in epee, 17 in foil and 13 in sabre. Both teams also have fenced each other in every weapon so they will not see each other in any bouts during Sunday’s final action.

In sabre, Eileen Hassett (Beaverton, Ore.) finished the day in fourth place after putting together an 11-3 record with a +9 indicator. Her morning started off with four consecutive wins, including defeating teammate Lian Osier (5-3) in her opening bout. In one-touch bouts, the senior put together a perfect 4-0 record, including two critical bouts over Columbia’s Samantha Roberts and Loweye Diedro.

Lian Osier (Battle Ground, Wash.) finished up her four rounds with an 8-6 record and +13 indicator for ninth place. The sophomore put together a dominant second round to aide her record, sweeping all three bouts against Columbia’s Diedro (5-3) and Roberts (5-2) as well as Hunter College’s Stella Shifrin (5-2).

Junior Courtney Hurley (San Antonio, Texas) turned in the performance of the day for the Irish, going 13-1 in women’s epee with a +31 indicator, good for the top spot in the epee pool. Her lone loss of the day came in a 4-3 overtime loss to Alyssa Vongries of Penn State, 4-3. Hurley posted a 5-1 record in one-touch bouts, while also going 2-0 in each two- through four-touch decisions. She now owns a career 54-6 record in NCAA round-robin play over her three appearances with a +99 indicator, going 21-2 her freshman year and 20-3 sophomore year.

Ewa Nelip (Katowice, Poland) struggled in her first taste of the NCAA’s since ’08, putting together a 6-8 record with a +6 indicator. She had her moments on day one, however, ending round one with 5-1 and 5-0 wins over Chantal Montrose of Temple and Phoebe Montrose of Princeton, respectively, but fell on hard times in one-touch bouts, going 1-4 in such decisions.

Senior Hayley Reese (Crestwood, Ky.) was the highest finisher for the Irish in foil after day one, concluding with an 8-6 record and +7 indicator. She battled through an up-and-down day, but did record a perfect 3-0 second round and also earned an overtime win over Princeton’s Hyun-Kyung Yuh in the day’s final round.

Rachel Beck (Tucson, Ariz.), a freshman making her first appearance in the championships, competed through a grueling first day draw to a record of 3-11 with a -23 indicator. The end of the day proved to be a positive one, however, as she finished the final round with a 2-1 mark, claiming wins over Temple’s Epiphany Georges (5-2) and North Carolina’s Katie Williamson (5-2).

Tomorrow’s action sees the final three rounds of pool play action take place, meaning each team with the highest allotment of six fencers has the potential to earn a maximum of 54 points to the team score, 18 in each weapon. At the end of pool play competition the team champion will be known.

Following the completion of pool play, the top-four finishers in each women’s weapon will then compete for individual glory as they take part in simultaneous semifinal 15-touch bouts, with the winners fencing to determine the champion and the losers being awarded a tie for third place.

Check back with und.com for a complete recap of Sunday’s action as the Irish look to keep hold of the lead and claim their eighth national championship. Fans can also follow the Irish by accessing live results at http://www.prisedefer.com/NCAA, which also will be airing live streaming video of select matches.

Top Five Team Scores:Team             Points1. Notre Dame                1392. Penn State           1333. St. John's           123T4. Ohio State          114T4. Princeton           114

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