Feb. 23, 2007

The Notre Dame men’s and women’s fencing teams will wrap up the 2006-07 regular season this weekend at the Northwestern Duals (Sat., Feb. 24) – with the highlight bouts set for 3:00 p.m., when the Irish will battle a Penn State program that has risen to the top spot in both the men’s and women’s polls. The Notre Dame women currently are ranked fourth while the Irish men are sixth. The tournament also will include noteworthy bouts for the Notre Dame women versus 6th-ranked Northwestern and number-9 Temple. Notre Dame and Penn State have a longstanding rival on the fencing strip that includes the Irish edging the Nittany Lions for the 2003 NCAA title (182-179), after finishing second to PSU for five straight years at the NCAAs from 1997-2001.

Notre Dame’s recent head-to-head matchups with Penn State include a 2-1 record for the Irish men and women (the teams did not face each other in 2005-06):

2003 ND Duals – ND men won 15-12, ND women lost 11-16
2003-04 Penn State Duals (held in the fall) – ND men and women both won 14-13
2005 ND Duals – ND men lost 12-15; ND women won 16-11

The complete Northwestern Duals schedule follows below:

8:00 a.m. — vs. Detroit (women)
9:00 a.m. — vs. Johns Hopkins (women)
10:00 a.m. — vs. #6 Northwestern (women)
11:00 a.m. — vs. #9 Temple (women)
12:00 p.m. — vs. #1 Penn State (women)
1:00 p.m. — vs. Cleveland State (both men and women)
2:00 p.m. — vs. Fairleigh Dickinson (women)/vs. Lawrence (men)
3:00 p.m. — vs. #1 Penn State (men)
4:00 p.m. — vs. Detroit (men)

U.S. FENCING COACHES ASSOCIATION POLL – The second USFCA poll, released Feb. 21, had the Notre Dame women staying put at number-4 with the Irish men’s squad dropping one place to 6th. With the Harvard men dropping to 4th in the most recent poll, Penn State now is ranked atop both the men’s and women’s polls. Here’s a complete look at the polls:

U.S. Fencing Coaches Association Poll (previous ranking in parentheses)

MEN
1. Penn State (3)
2. Ohio State (2)
3. Columbia (4)
4. Harvard (1)
5. St. John’s (6)
6. Notre Dame (5)
7. Pennsylvania (7)
8. Princeton (10)
9. Stanford (9)
10. Duke (NR)
Others receiving votes – Rutgers, North Carolina, UC-San Diego, Wayne State, Brandeis, NYU, Air Force, Yale

WOMEN
1. Penn State (1)
2. Columbia-Barnard (2)
3. Harvard (3)
4. Notre Dame (4)
5. Ohio State (6)
6. Northwestern (5)
(tie) St. John’s (6)
8. Pennsylvania (8)
9. Temple (9)
10. Princeton (NR)
Others receiving votes – UC-San Diego, Brown, Duke, Stanford, Wayne State, Yale, North Carolina, Cornell, Air Force, Johns Hopkins

NOTRE DAME-PENN STATE PREVIEW – Penn State returns 11 former NCAA participants and 9 of 12 from the 2006 NCAA runner-up team. Here’s a look at how the Nittany Lions have fared against current Irish fencers in NCAA regular-season and postseason bouts, plus any results from past Penn State Opens (note that PSU also have several top newcomers, among them freshman foilist Doris Willette and freshman epeeist Keri Byerts):

MEN’S EPEE

James Moody (19th place/2006 NCAAs) – Split against Notre Dame in the 2006 NCAAs with a 5-1 win over current senior Aaron Adjemian and a 3-5 loss to sophomore Karol Kostka … posted a 15-9 win over junior epee captain Greg Howard at the ’05 Penn State Open (held in the fall) … his results at the PSU Open in the fall of ’06 included a 5-2 win over Kostka during the pool rounds and a 2-5 loss to Howard.

Arthur Urman (11th/2006, 8th/2005) – Is 3-2 against Notre Dame with one win each over Howard (5-2, ’05 ND Duals), Adjemian (5-2, ’05 NCAAs) and Kostka (5-3, ’06 NCAAs), plus two losses to Adjemian (0-5, ’05 ND; 3-5, ’06 NCAAs) … was edged by Adjemian (5-4) during pool bouts at the ’06 PSU Open earlier this season.

MEN’S FOIL

Jeffery Chang (19th/2006), 11th/2005) – 2-2 against the Irish with two 5-3 wins in 2005 (over current senior captain Frank Bontempo at the ND Duals and junior Jakub Jedrkowiak, both at the NCAAs) paired with two losses at the ’06 NCAAs (0-5 to Jedrkowiak, 2-5 to current sophomore Mark Kubik) … lost to Jedrkowiak (13-15) in the final of the 2005 PSU Open.

Alexander Louton (20th/2006) – Split against Notre Dame at the ’06 NCAAs with a 5-1 win over Kubik followed by a 0-5 loss to Jedrkowiak.

MEN’S SABRE

Franz Boghicev (6th/2006, 4th/2005) – Owns a 3-2 record against Notre Dame in NCAA bouts, including a 1-2 record against senior sabre captain Patrick Ghattas … claimed a 5-4 win over Ghattas during the ’05 NCAA round-robin bouts but lost to Ghattas (10-15) in the semifinals … Ghattas followed with a 5-2 win in the 2006 NCAAs … Boghicev is 2-0 versus senior Matt Stearns (5-1, ’05 NCAAs; 5-3, ’06 NCAAs) … Boghicev owns two wins in 15-touch bouts over Ghattas at past PSU Opens (the ’04 semifinal and the `05 third-place bout) and a split with Stearns (5-2 win, 4-5 loss) and a win over current sophomore Bill Thanhouser (5-4) during pool bouts of the ’06 PSU Open before defeating Stearns (15-6) in the quarterfinals of that tournament (fall ’06).

Ian Farr (13th/2005, 5th/2004) – Holds a 4-3 mark against Ghattas and Stearns, with two wins at the ’04 NCAAs (5-2 over Stearns, 5-3 over Ghattas), one win at the ’05 ND Duals (5-3 over Ghattas) and one at the ’05 NCAAs (5-1 over Stearns) … product of the Oregon Fencing Alliance sabre academy (as are Ghattas, Thanhouser, current ND senior Valerie Providenza, PSU sophomore Caity Thompson and three signees who will join the ND program in the fall of 2007 … his losses to ND include a pair of 2-5 decisions to the senior sabre pair at the ’03 Penn State Duals, as well as a 4-5 loss to Stearns at the ’05 ND Duals … also lost 4-5 to Ghattas at the ’06 PSU Open.

WOMEN’S EPEE

Case Szarwark (7th/2006, 9th/2005, 18th/2004) – Has faced senior epee captain Amy Orlando five times, owning a 3-2 record with wins at ’03 PSU Duals (4-3), ’05 ND Duals (5-0) and the ’06 NCAAs (5-2) and losses at the ’04 NCAAs (5-1) and ’05 NCAAs (5-3) … lost to Orlando twice in 15-touch bouts at previous PSU Opens (8-15 in the ’05 semifinals, 9-15 in the ’06 third-place bout) and once to current freshman Kelley Hurley (0-5) during pool bouts in ’06.

WOMEN’S FOIL

Tamara Najm (11th/2006) – 1-2 against the Irish, with a split against current junior Melanie Bautista (5-2 win at the ’05 ND Duals, 3-4 loss at the ’06 NCAAs) and a 5-2 loss to sophomore foil co-captain Adi Nott (2-5, ’06 NCAAs) … has defeated sophomore Emilie Prot three times at past PSU Opens, with a win in the ’05 round-of-16 and two wins (5-0, 5-4) during pool bouts of the ’06 PSU Open.

WOMEN’S SABRE

Laura Hillstrom (22nd/2005) – Has lost twice to senior sabre co-captain Valerie Providenza (5-0, ’05 ND Duals; 5-1, ’05 NCAAs) … also fell to sophomore Christina Zoccoli (5-3) at the ’06 PSU Open.

Sophia Hiss (5th/2006, 5th/2005, 2nd/2004) – Lost to Providenza at the ’04 NCAA final after Providenza rattled off the final six touches to win 15-8 … Hiss had defeated Providenza during the 2004 NCAA round-robin (5-1) but has lost the past four bouts between the two (8-15, ’04 NCAA final; 3-5, ’05 ND Duals; 1-5, ’05 NCAAs; 4-5, ’06 NCAAs) … Providenza repeated her win at the ’04 final by downing Hiss by the same score in the semifinals of the ’06 PSU Open … Hiss topped current ND sophomore Ashley Serrette twice (both 5-3) during pool play of the ’06 PSU Open.

Caity Thompson (4th/2006) – Topped her club teammate Providenza at the 2006 NCAAs (5-1) … that duo has met countless times over the years, as various national and international event.

NOTRE DAME-NORTHWESTERN WOMEN’S PREVIEW – Here’s a look at some of the key bouts to watch in the ND-Northwestern matchup (note that ND edged NU earlier this season at the NYU Duals, 14-13, with the decisive bout coming on Amy Orlando’s overtime win over Christa French):

Courtney DuBois (epee, 23rd at 2005 NCAAs) – owns just a 2-8 record in college bouts vs. Orlando, with recent matchups including a 2-5 loss earlier this season at NYU, a split in 2005-06 season (5-3 Dubois win at Northwestern Duals; 5-4 Orlando win at ND Duals) and Orlando’s 5-3 win at the 2005 NCAAs; Montoya beat Dubois at the ’06 Northwestern Duals (5-4) … Hurley (5-2) and Montoya (5-4) and beat DuBois at NYU.

Jessica Florendo (foil, 12th/2005, 5th/2006) – lost to Nott at the 2007 NYU Duals (2-5) but posted wins over Prot (5-3) and junior Rachel Cota (5-1) … went 5-9 in 2005-06 bouts vs. the top ND fencers … split four bouts in ’05-`06 vs. Bautista (including 5-4 loss at Northwestern, 5-4 win at ND, 5-4 loss at NCAAs) … Bautista also beat Florendo twice as a freshman (5-4 at both ND Duals and Midwest Regional) … Florendo was 2-3 vs. Nott in 2005-06, including a win at home (5-3) plus losses at ND (5-2), in the Regional semifinals (15-13) and in the NCAAs (5-2) … Prot’s freshman season included a 4-1 record vs. Florendo, winning at Northwestern (5-1), at ND (5-2), in the MFC semifinals (15-14) and in the MFC team match (5-4) before losing at the Regional (15-12).

Sam Nemecek (foil, 8th/2006) – had an impressive sweep of the ND fencers at the 2007 NYU Duals (4-2 vs. Bautista, 5-0 vs. Nott, 5-1 vs. Prot) … finished one bout above .500 (8-7) in her 2005-06 bouts vs. ND’s top-3 … went 3-2 in ’05-’06 vs. Bautista, winning at ND (5-1) and in the MFC individual and team bouts, while losing at home (3-2) and in the NCAAs (5-0) … her 4-2 record in 2005-06 vs. Nott included wins at ND (5-4), in the MFC semifinals (15-3), in the Regional final (15-7) and in the NCAAs(5-1), plus losses at home (5-2) and in the MFC individual bouts (3-2) … Prot had the best showing vs. Nemecek in ’05-’06 (3-1), winning at Northwestern (5-4), at ND (5-3) and in the MFCs (15-9) while Nemecek won their Regional bout (15-12).

Mai Vu (sabre, 16th/2005, 18th/2006) – owns just a 1-8 career record in college bouts vs. Providenza, including a 5-1 bout at the 2007 NYU Duals and 5-1 losses at the 2005 and ’06 NCAAs … split a pair of 2005-06 bouts last season vs. Serrette (5-2 win at home, 15-11 loss at MFCs) and then beat Serrette at NYU earlier this season (5-4; also 5-1 win over senior Erin Housing).

Other ND-NU results from the 2007 NYU Duals) – Prot (5-4) and Nott (5-1) posted win over Natalie Wang, who beat Bautista 5-0 … Providenza completed her sweep of the Wildcats with wins over Adrienne Sohn (5-1) and Sophie Eustis (5-2) … Eustis topped the other ND sabreists (5-4 vs. Housing and Serrette) while Shon lost to Serrette (3-5) and beat Christina Zoccoli (5-0) … NU freshman twins Christa and Kayley French also faced the Irish for the first time in a college dual matchup … Hurley beat both French sisters (5-3 vs. Christa, 5-4 vs. Kayley), as did Orlando (5-4 vs. Kayler, 4-3 vs. Christa in the final bout) … the French sisters both defeated Montoya (5-3 for Christa, 5-2 by Kayley).