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Successful Trip to the Big Apple Claims Invitational Title

NEW YORK, NY. – The Notre Dame fencing team completed a successful trip to the Big Apple after the women’s team claimed the title for the St. John’s Invitational. The women’s team went 5-0 on the day and the men’s team finished 3-2.

The day started out with the Irish up against Ohio State. The women opened up the invitational claiming the victory against the Buckeyes 16-11. Epee and saber finished 6-3, with foil finishing 4-5. The men’s team fell to Ohio State 11-16. Luke Linder went 3-0 on the day with epee and foil finishing 3-6 and sabre finishing 5-4. The women’s sabre squad finished with a 6-3 victory. Wins came from Atara Greenbaum, Kara Linder, Jadeyn Williams, and Neve Harrison. The squad led for the entirety of the match. The foil squad fell to Ohio State by one bout, but the epee squad claimed a 6-3 win to give the team the 16-11 victory.

The men’s team started out with the first win of the match when Jared Smith won his bout 5-3. The Buckeyes immediately tied it up but not before the Irish came back with another win. Luke Linder took the win in his bout defeating his opponent 5-3. Ohio State tied things up again at 2-2, then Smith won his second bout to keep the Irish in front for the next and take the 5-4 victory in sabre. The foil and epee squads fell to Ohio State 3-6, respectively, with wins for the Irish coming Marcello Olivares, Hans Yoong, Philip Dority, Maruan Osman-Touson, Stephen Ewart and Jonathan Hamilton-Meikle.

The win streak continued for the women’s team up against Penn State and the men’s team picked up their first match win. The women won 20-7 after Eszter Muhari, Amita Berthier, and Kara Linder all went 3-0. Epee went 6-3, foil and sabre both finished with a 7-2 record. Sabre immediately collected two victories from Greenbaum and Linder to take the lead. Penn State tied things up but a victory from Harrison put the Irish in front to claim the 7-2 victory. Foil finished with the same record when Amita Berthier took the first victory. After the Nittany Lions tied it the Irish got out in front and claimed the victory. The epee squad finished out their match with the final four wins from Muhari, Grady, and Hsieh to help the Irish to the match win. 

The men dominated as well taking the win against the Nittany Lions 21-6. Stephen Ewart, Philip Dority, Alexander Lacaze, and Sean Moon all finished 3-0. Epee finished 7-2 , foil finished 6-3, and sabre dominated the score finishing the day 8-1. The sabre squad had six straight victories when Sean Moon put the Irish back in front after a 1-1 tie. Once the Irish took that win, they led for the remainder of the match. Foil came out strong with two wins from Olivares and Dority. Penn State tied things up at 2-2, took the lead for one bout and then the Irish got back in front with four more wins. Epee fell in their first two bouts, but didn’t let that stop them when they claimed seven straight victories.

The match against Harvard didn’t pose a challenge for the women as they took down the Crimson 24-3. Linder, Jadeyn Williams, and Atara Greenbaum all went 3-0 in the match. For Williams, this 3-0 record capped off her strong performance with a 7-2 record on the day. Epee and sabre finished with dominating 9-0 finishes, and foil finished 6-3. The sabre squad won all nine bouts from Linder, Williams, and Greenbaum. Epee also collected nine straight wins from Sedna Ghandi, Grady, and Pirkowski. Foil jumped out and took the first three wins of the match from Paige Luong, Karina Yaroshenko, and Josephina Conway. The collected the 6-3 win to help the team to a final match score of 24-3.

The men’s match finished with the Irish on top as they won 15-12. Ewart and Luke Linder both went 3-0 in the match. Epeee and sabre both finished with a 6-3 record and foil finished 3-6. Sabre collected five straight victories from Linder, Lacaze, and Smith to take the win. Foil fell to the Crimson with wins coming from Yoong and Olivares. Epee helped the squad to a match win with four straight wins from Ewart, Noah Silvers, and Hunter Candreva.

The Irish continued to dominate the invitational as the women beat the host, St. John, 20-7. Muhari, Amanda Pirkowski, Rebecca Candescu, and Linder all finished the match with 3-0 records. Epee and foil finished the match with 7-2 records while sabre finished 6-3. Sabre put up a fight with Linder, Harrison, and Greenbaum posting wins to lead them to their 6-3 finish. Foil won all but two bouts with Berthier, Candescu, and Pustilnik all put up wins. They came out with two victories to get in front and never gave up their lead. Epee came from behind after being down, then tied things to get out in front when Pirkowski won her bout to take the lead and win the match.

The men’s team showed the same power when they finished the match 19-8. Epee went 8-1 in the match with foul finishing 6-3 and sabre finishing 5-4. Maruan Osman-Touson, Jonathan Hamilton-Meikle, Marcello Olivares, and Lacaze all ended with a 3-0 record. Sabre came out on top after trading points but Moon took the final Irish victory for a 5-4 win. Foil collected the first win from Jason Zhao and that was followed by five more victories from Olivares, and Jack Oursler. Epee finished out their match with straight victories after only giving up one bout. Osman, Hamilton-Meikle, and Candreva collected finished the match strong. 

The day ended with the women’s team winning against Columbia, 15-12. The Irish were down 4-9 to the Lions to start the match, then5-10, then 6-11, but then won eight bouts in a row to take the win. Muhari finished 3-0 to help the Irish to the tournament title. Epee finished 6-3, foil finished 5-6 and sabre 5-4.  Sabre saw wins from Williams, Greenbaum, and Linder. Despite foil not taking a winning record, Berthier, Pustilnik, and Luong all collected wins. Epee finished strong with wins from Hsieh, Grady, and Muhari to claim the invitational title.

The men’s team fell to Columbia, 12-15. Luke Linder and Dority were 3-0 against the Lions. Wins came from Linder, Yoong, Olivares, Osman, and Ewart.

The Irish are back in action tomorrow when they continue fencing at the Philadelphia Invitational hosted by the University of Pennsylvania.