Feb. 8, 2003

DURHAM, N.C. –

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(Note: see PDF link for updated stats and ND-Stanford bout scores.)

The second day of the Duke Duals saw the second-ranked Notre Dame women duplicate Friday’s 5-0 showing by the Irish men, as the women pushed their season record to 17-2 with wins Saturday over North Carolina (27-0), Air Force (18-9), Stanford (19-8), Duke (23-4) and Johns Hopkins (25-2).

The highlight bout featured a showdown between the last two NCAA foil champions, with Stanford’s Iris Zimmerman (’01 NCAA champ) posting a 5-1 win over Notre Dame’s Alicja Kryczalo. Kryczalo’s classmate Andrea Ament (the ’02 NCAA runner-up) jumped out to a 3-0 lead on Zimmerman but failed to close out the win (3-5). The Stanford foilists finished with a 6-3 edge on the Irish but Notre Dame dominated in the epee (9-0) and sabre (7-2) for the easy win.

Junior sabres Maggie Jordan (14-1) and Destanie Milo (13-1) led the way as the Irish collected all six tournament cups, which were awarded for the most bouts won per weapon (including three by the men). The sabre cup came down to the final matches, with Notre Dame’s 9-0 win over Johns Hopkins giving the Irish (37-8) the sabre cup by the margin of one bout over Air Force (which closed with an 8-1 win over North Carolina).

Seniors Meagan Call (14-1) and Anna Carnick (13-2) combined with junior Kerry Walton (10-2) for a strong epee showing (39-6) while Kryczalo (10-2) and Ament (13-2) joined senior Liza Boutsikaris (11-3) for a solid day by the Irish foilists (36-9).

Stanford newcomer Eva Petschnigg, who fenced for Princeton at the 2000 NCAAs, posted wins over Kryczalo (5-4) and Ament (5-3), with Kryczalo battling back from a 3-0 deficit to lead 4-3 while Ament had a 2-0 lead before losing the next four touches.

Jordan posted a 5-3 win over Stanford All-American Meghan Everett while also rallying from a 3-0 deficit to beat Air Force NCAA veteran Andrea Rix (5-3), who posted a 5-1 win over Milo (she did not face Everett).

Other noteworthy bouts included wins by Kryczalo (5-0) and Ament (5-1) over Duke NCAA veteran Erin Black while Air Force’s Elia Burrill (an ’02 NCAA participant) swept the Notre Dame epeeists in three one-touch bouts (including 4-3 vs. Carnick, with Carnick owning the overtime priority).

The trio of Carnick, Call and Walton lead an ND women’s epee squad that has combined for nearly 500 career wins (459-116) while Boutsikaris, Kryczalo and Ament are the leaders of an ND women’s foil squad that has won 83.2 percent of its career bouts (346-70).

RECORD BOOK UPDATES

* Carnick extended her season record to 37-6 while moving into 3rd place on the ND list for career women’s epee regular-season wins (177-42; still 10th among all weapons), behind Anne Hoos (’98; 313) and Nicole Mustilli (’99; 304) … Boutsikaris (33-9 in ’03) moved past two-time NCAAA champion Molly Sullivan into 6th on the Irish career foil wins list (164-37; 12th among all weapons) while Call (165-52; 37-6 in ’03) is 11th on the overall women’s fencing wins list (6th among epeeists).

* Milo (.837, 118-23) now owns the 14th-best career regular-season winning pct. in ND women’s fencing history, with Boutsikaris (.816) now 20th on that list and Carnick 22nd (.808) … Kryczalo’s .938 career winning pct. (75-5) would rank 3rd in ND history, behind fellow foilists Maria Panyi (.980, 146-3; ’94-’95) and Sara Walsh (.970, 231-7; ’96-’99) … two other second-year fencers are entrenched on the ND career winning pct. list: Walton (.900, 90-9; would rank 7th) and Ament (.877, 65-8; would rank 8th).

* With one regular-season tournament remaining (the Feb. 22 Michigan State Duals), Walton (.889, 40-5) is on pace for the 5th-best regular-season winning pct. ever posted by an ND women’s epeeists (Carnick’s .861 would rank 7th).