Jan. 29, 2016

By Joanne Norell

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — After going two weeks without competing due to severe winter weather on the East Coast, the University of Notre Dame will be back in action Saturday and Sunday at the Northwestern Duals at the Castellan Family Fencing Center.

WHAT: Northwestern Duals
WHERE: Castellan Family Fencing Center | Notre Dame, Ind.
WHEN: January 30-31, 2015 | Competition begins at 8 a.m. ET both days
FOLLOW: Live Results
TWITTER: @NDFencing

Northwestern Duals Lowdown
Notre Dame will serve as this year’s host site for the Northwestern Duals due to renovations of the Wildcats’ fencing facilities. The two-day event will feature teams from 18 schools: Notre Dame, Northwestern, Ohio State, Wayne State, Detroit, Cleveland State, Lawrence, Stanford, UC San Diego, Cal Tech, North Carolina, Temple, Fairleigh Dickenson, Princeton, Penn, Air Force, Duke and Penn State.

Notre Dame Bout Schedule
Saturday
8 a.m. — Men vs. Stanford; Women, bye
9 a.m. — ND vs. Penn
10 a.m. — Men vs. UC San Diego; Women vs. Princeton
11 a.m. — Men vs. Air Force; Women, bye
12 p.m. — Bye
1:30 p.m. — ND vs. Ohio State
2:30 p.m. — Men, bye; Women vs. Fairleigh Dickenson
3:30 p.m. — Men vs. Princeton; Women vs. Stanford
4:30 p.m. — Bye
5:30 p.m. — Men, bye; Women vs. Cal Tech
Sunday
8 a.m. — Men vs. Cal Tech; Women vs. Temple
9 a.m. — Men vs. Lawrence; Women vs. Air Force
10 a.m. — Men, bye; Women vs. UC San Diego
11 a.m. — Men vs. Detroit; Women vs. Northwestern
12 p.m. — Men vs. Cleveland State; Women, bye
1:30 p.m. — ND vs. Penn State
2:30 p.m. — Men, bye; Women vs. Lawrence
3:30 p.m. — Men vs. Northwestern, Women, bye

Last Time Out: DeCicco Duals
The Irish men and women each turned in clean sheets two weeks ago as both teams went undefeated at the DeCicco Duals. The teams face six varsity competitors at the third annual Irish meet, with the women improving to 18-0 on the season while the men moved to 17-1. The teams were to fence last weekend at the St. John’s and NYU Invitationals in New York City, but inclement weather cancelled the events.

Rankings Summary
The second CollegeFencing360.com Coaches Poll was released on January 28, with both Irish teams coming in at No. 2. This weekend, the Irish women will face top ten opponents in No. 3 Princeton, No. 5 Northwestern, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 9 Penn State and No. 10 Temple. The men will fence against No. 4 Penn State, No. 7 Ohio State, No. 8 Princeton and No. 10 Stanford.

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

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

To keep up with Irish fencing, visit UND.com/NDFencing, follow @NDFencing on Twitter and likeNotre Dame Fencing on Facebook.

–ND–

Joanne Norell, athletics communications assistant 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 and earned her master’s degree from Georgetown University in 2013.