Jan. 25, 2015
JERSEY CITY, N.J. – The University of Notre Dame fencing teams entered Sunday’s NYU Invitational with mixed emotions; while the women’s team had dominated at St. John’s on Saturday, the men entered the Cobra Fencing Center with a chip on their shoulders after having gone 1-4 a day earlier.
Thankfully, that chip disappeared after the first round, as both teams won the majority of their matches – the women’s team went 4-1, losing a closely contested match with Columbia, while the men’s team went 3-1, only losing to St. John’s, 15-12. The women improve to 13-2 overall, while the men now boast an 8-6 record.
“Today was not so much a lesson, but a realization that we are resilient,” Irish head coach Gia Kvaratskhelia says on his men’s team. “Our fencers realized they are able to rebound after what they thought was a disappointing performant, and they can make adjustments on the fly to improve.”
The women fenced all five rounds, facing Yale, Columbia, Northwester, St. John’s and host NYU in that order. Against Yale, they won handily, 22-5 (epee, 7-2, foil, 8-1, sabre, 7-2) whereas in the second round, foil provided the Lions with an opportunity to capitalize. After the epee squad won the class 7-2, the foil squad suffered their first lost of the year, 2-7. Sabre lost, 4-5, sealing the 14-13 victory for Columbia.
Not a team to focus on the negatives of the day, the women’s team rallied to beat Northwestern 17-10 in the third round, while the men’s team stood on bye. Irish epeeists won 5-4, while the foil and sabre squads posted matching 6-3 records. The Irish won both the fourth and fifth rounds, 18-9 against St. John’s and 24-3 against NYU. Versus St. John’s, the foil squad stole the show with their 8-1 victory, while against the Violets, both foil and sabre were undefeated and the epee squad logged a 6-3 mark.
On the men’s strips, the Irish got off to a hot start, beating Yale 21-6; epee, foil and sabre all posted matching 7-2 marks. Versus Columbia, they won 17-10 (epee 6-3, foil, 8-1, sabre, 3-6) before they had a bye in round three.
In the last two rounds of the day, Notre Dame went 1-1, losing 12-15 to St. John’s (epee, 3-6, foil, 5-4, sabre, 4-5) but winning 19-8 against NYU (epee, 4-5, foil, 7-2, sabre, 8-1).
The Irish are next in action Jan. 31 at the Northwestern Duals in Evanston, Ill. Stay tuned to team social media accounts for details heading into the match.
Lizzie Mikes,
Media Services Coordinator
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