Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

Keys To The Meet: DeCicco Duals

Jan. 27, 2017

By Joanne Norell

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame fencing program will host its annual DeCicco Duals this weekend, welcoming 13 varsity and club programs over Saturday and Sunday to the Castellan Family Fencing Center.

WHAT: DeCicco Duals
WHERE: Castellan Family Fencing Center | Notre Dame, Ind.
WHEN: January 28-29, 2017
TWITTER: @NDFencing

DeCicco Duals Details

Notre Dame hosts the fourth annual DeCicco Duals this weekend at the Castellan Family Fencing Center. The Irish will host a six-team varsity competition Saturday, followed by varsity and club competition on Sunday. Bouts will begin at 9 a.m. ET Saturday and 8 a.m. ET Sunday.

Notre Dame Schedule of Events
Saturday*
9 a.m. – Notre Dame vs. Lawrence
10 a.m. – Notre Dame vs. Wayne State
11 a.m. – Notre Dame vs. Detroit Mercy
12 p.m. – No. 3 Notre Dame (W) vs. No. 8 Northwestern (W)
1 p.m. – Notre Dame vs. Florida
Sunday
9 a.m. – Notre Dame vs. Wisconsin
10 a.m. – Notre Dame vs. Virginia
11 a.m. – Notre Dame vs. Clemson
12 p.m. – Notre Dame vs. Michigan
1 p.m. – Notre Dame vs. Michigan State
2 p.m. – Notre Dame vs. Chicago
3 p.m. – Notre Dame vs. McKendree

*All matchups are for both men’s and women’s teams unless otherwise noted.

Senior Send-Off

The Irish will honor its seniors prior to the women’s match against Northwestern on Saturday, as the DeCicco Duals mark the final “home” event of the season for the Irish. (Notre Dame will serve as the host site for the Northwestern Duals the following weekend, but that event will be run by the Wildcat program.)

The Northwestern match will also mark the final home match for senior women’s foilist Lee Kiefer, who will not fence during the Northwestern Duals while she competes at an FIE World Cup event. Kiefer is a three-time NCAA Champion, two-time Olympian and consistently ranks among the best women’s foilists in the world. Kiefer, who earned ACC Female Fencer of the Week honors this week after going 20-0 at the St. John’s and NYU Invitationals, is just one of three student-athletes in Notre Dame history with three or more individual national titles, standing as one of the most decorated athletes in school history.

Rankings Rundown

CollegeFencing360 released the first coaches poll last week, with both Irish men and women appearing in the top 10.

Men’s Rankings
1. Columbia
2. Ohio State
3. Penn State
4. Notre Dame
5. Princeton
6. Pennsylvania
7. Harvard
8. St. John’s
9. Stanford
10. Duke

Women’s Rankings
1. Columbia
2. Princeton
3. Notre Dame
4. Ohio State
5. Penn State
6. Penn
7. Harvard
8. Northwestern
9. Temple
10. St. John’s

Last Time Out

The Irish faced some elite competition last weekend at the St. John’s and NYU Invitationals. The men’s program posted a 6-3 record on the weekend, while the women were 7-2 over two days. The Irish men were led by sophomore foilist Axel Kiefer, who went 16-5, and senior squadmate Kristjan Archer, who was 15-8. On the women’s side, Lee Kiefer went a perfect 20-0 in foil, while sophomore Sabrina Massialas was 16-5 in the same weapon. Junior Francesca Russo went 14-2 in sabre over the weekend and sophomore Amanda Sirico was 15-5 in epee.

— ND —

Joanne Norell, athletics communications assistant director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2014 and coordinates communications efforts for the Notre Dame women’s soccer, men’s tennis, women’s tennis and fencing programs. Norell is a 2011 graduate of Purdue University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in mass communication, and earned her master’s degree in sports industry management from Georgetown University in 2013.