NOTRE DAME, Ind. — For the eighth-straight year, the University of Notre Dame fencing program will send the maximum allotted 12 fencers to the NCAA Championships. The Irish will compete with 12 participants on March 24-27 at the Castellan Family Fencing Center in the Joyce Athletic Convocation Center in South Bend, Indiana.
The Irish squad will have a mix of youth and experience next weekend at the Castellan Family Fencing Center. Nine of the 12 selections will be making a repeat appearance at NCAA’s this season while three people got selected for the first time.
For women’s sabre, Kara Linder earned her fourth selection to the championships while Atara Greenbaum is making her second appearance. Women’s foil will be represented by returner Amita Berthier and Nicole Pustilnik in her first appearance. Rounding out the women’s squad will be Amanda Pirkowski in her first selection while Kaylin Hsieh is making her second NCAA appearance.
On the men’s side, Andrew Machovec and Nick Itkin will be making their third selections. For men’s epee the Irish will be represented by Stephen Ewart, who will make his third trip to nationals. Hunter Candreva will also be joining in on the action for his first selection. Rounding out the men’s field is Jared Smith for his third straight selection and Luke Linder making his second appearance.
The National Collegiate Men’s and Women’s Fencing Championships include individual events in each of the six weapons, and fencers will compete in a round-robin format of five-touch bouts. After the round-robin, the top-four finishers in each weapon will fence in semifinal 15-touch bouts, with the winners fencing to determine first and second places, and the non-advancing fencers being awarded a tie for third place.
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.
The women will kick off the championship with round-robin bouts on Thursday March 24 followed by semifinals and finals on Friday March 25. The men will follow with the same schedule on Saturday March 26 and Sunday March 27.
A live feed of semifinal and final bouts will be available at 1:30 p.m. Eastern time on ESPN3 or WatchESPN app. Semifinals and finals, along with other championships highlights, will air on ESPNU at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time March 30.
2022 Selections
Amita Berthier, Women’s Foil
Hunter Candreva, Men’s Epee
Stephen Ewart, Men’s Epee
Atara Greenbaum, Women’s Sabre
Kaylin Hsieh, Women’s Epee
Nick Itkin, Men’s Foil
Kara Linder, Women’s Sabre
Luke Linder, Men’s Sabre
Andrew Machovec, Men’s Foil
Amanda Pirkowski, Women’s Epee
Nicole Pustilnik, Women’s Foil
Jared Smith, Men’s Sabre
—ND—