Wildcats take advantage of new line-up, win 6-3
By MIKE CONNOLLY
Sports Writer
The No. 2 Notre Dame women's fencing team may be one of its most talented in history, but it sorely lacks depth. When freshman foilist Andrea Ament traveled to Germany for a World Cup event rather than compete with the Irish in Colorado Springs, head coach Yves Auriol was forced to juggle his line-up.
Sabrewoman Maggie Jordan moved back to foil to take Ament's place while Jesse Filkins moved into the starting line-up at sabre. The No. 6 Northwestern Wildcats took advantage of this switch to pick up a 6-3 win in sabre and defeat the Irish 15-12 overall.
"It did make us a little weaker," said sabrewoman Destanie Milo, who went 1-2 against Northwestern. "It may have been better if Maggie was at sabre."
Filkins lost all three of her bouts against Northwestern in the place of Jordan. Although the Irish won the foil bout 5-4, Jordan went only 1-2 against the Wildcats. Freshman foilist Alicja Kryzcalo carried the Irish with a 3-0 record in foil.
In epee, Northwestern won a closely contested match. Wildcat All-American Katie Rudkin won all three of her bouts against the Irish including a 5-2 win against Anna Carnick in the ninth bout.
Northwestern, which also competes in the Midwest Fencing Conference with Notre Dame, is probably Notre Dame's biggest rival. Losing a match to them is disappointing, according to Milo.
"Not only are they in our region but they are also very good," Milo said. "They are one of our big competitors so it does hurt a little more to lose because they are next door to use in Chicago. It's definitely a Midwest rivalry."
Although the Irish dropped their match with the No. 6 Wildcats, the posted a 20-7 win against the No. 4 Stanford Cardinal. The women also picked up wins against UC-San Diego, Cal State-Fullerton, Duke and Air Force.
The men sailed through the weekend meet unblemished to run their undefeated dual-meet winning streak to 61. The streak is the third longest in Notre Dame history.
The men were led by an undefeated meet by Jan Viviani. Viviani's biggest win of the day came against Air Force All-American Seth Kelsey. Viviani defeated Kelsey 5-2.
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, February 5, 2002
