Notre Dame faces marathon home meet
By MIKE CONNOLLY
Sports Writer
The Irish fencing team faces a marathon test of endurance this weekend in its only home regular season meet of the year.
Facing 10 teams over two days, Notre Dame must remain mentally and physically focused for the entire weekend.
"I think it is going to be really long," women's epee captain Kim DeMaio said. "Last weekend at Northwestern when we fenced our fifth match, we were really tired at the end of the day. I think it is going to be a long weekend."
The two-day meet will be a good warm-up for the four-day NCAA Championships in March, according to men's foil captain Ozren Debic.
"The only time we fenced like that last year was at the NCAAs but that was much harder competition," he said. "Since this meet is at home, it is going to be more relaxed so I don't know. I am looking forward to it just to see how it goes. It will show how good we really are since we are competing and exhausting ourselves to the limit."
Although eight of the 10 teams the Irish face this weekend should pose little threat, Air Force could give both the men's and women's teams a test while the Northwestern women are one of the best in the country. The Irish face both teams on Sunday morning — after fencing five bouts on Saturday.
"As long as we still have energy it doesn't matter when we fence those," women's sabre captain Carianne McCullough said. "We can't come in from Saturday — however it goes — and just be worn out."
The women narrowly defeated Northwestern 14-13 last weekend but expect to win again this weekend but by a larger margin.
"I think we definitely have the potential to do a lot better than we did," DeMaio said. "I just feel that we will beat them again, hopefully a little easier this time."
If the Irish are going to win by a larger margin, they will need a better showing by the epee squad. While the women's foil squad beat Northwestern 7-2 and the sabre squad on 6-3, the epee squad was whipped 8-1.
Sophomore All-American Meagan Call feels she can improve on her 1-2 record against the Wildcats while DeMaio expects All-American Anna Carnick to fence better this weekend.
"I think [Carnick's] feet are still bothering her a little bit, her injury is still there but she is ready to fence Northwestern," DeMaio said. "I know she wasn't very happy with last weekend."
The long weekend will be more than an endurance test for Notre Dame. It will also give the walk-on fencers a chance to fence a few bouts. After the Irish win five bouts against a team, they will replace the starters with some of the less experienced fencers.
"It's going to be the opportunity for the non-starters and the walk-ons to compete," Debic said. "That will give them the chance to prove themselves. Our goal is to give as many people as we can the opportunity to fence."
The toughest test for the men will come from Air Force. The Falcons are led by All-American epeeist Seth Kelsey who finished ninth at NCAAs last year.
The Irish will counter Kelsey with a pair of All-Americans at epee — Jan Viviani and Brian Casas. Viviani missed last weekend's meet at Northwestern while he was fencing at a World Cup event in Cuba.
The Irish begin the weekend against Michigan State at 9 a.m. on Saturday followed by Detroit, Chicago, Wayne State and Cleveland State at 10:30 a.m., noon, 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. On Sunday the Irish start the day at 8 a.m. against Minnesota before fencing Air Force at 9:30, Northwestern at 11 a.m., Michigan at 12:30 p.m. and Lawrence at 2 p.m. All matches are held in the hockey dome of the Joyce Center.
All Sports Stories for Friday, February 2, 2001
