Notre Dame posts 11-1 record at Northwestern
By MIKE CONNOLLY
Associate Sports Editor
EVANSTON, Ill.
The men's and women's fencing teams combined for an 11-1 record Saturday at a Midwest Conference dual meet at Northwestern.
Led by perfect records from epeeist Brian Casas, foilists Ozren Debic and Forest Walton, and sabremen Andrezj Bednarski and Gabor Szelle, the men won all six of their matches by a combined score of 146-16.
The women posted the most impressive win of the day with a 27-0 shut out against Lawrence but dropped a close bout to Northwestern, 15-12, to finish the day 5-1.
"Obviously we were disappointed about the women losing to Northwestern," men's foil captain Jim Harris said. "But they fenced well. They fenced better than they did against Penn State. I am really happy about where the team in right now and we are going to be ready for the Midwest Championships in March."
Epee captain Kim DeMaio was also disappointed with the women's loss to Northwestern but stressed the improvement shown after last weekend's loss to Penn State. While the women improved in the close bouts, the Irish were hoping to deal the Wildcats a loss after several derogatory comments against Notre Dame surfaced in The Daily Northwestern.
"They have some tough fencers but we showed some improvement over last week especially in the close bouts," she said. "We were 6-1 in the 4-4 bouts. It would have been nice to win because they were so arrogant in their paper."
The Irish women's sabre team fell for the first time this year as the Wildcats dealt the Irish a 7-2 loss. At foil, however, the Irish bounced back with a decisive 6-3 victory of their own.
The epee match against Northwestern was the closest match of the day. The Wildcats jumped out to a 4-1 lead and threatened to rout the Irish. Led by freshman Anna Canick's 3-0 record, however, the Irish battled back.
Meagan Call, who finished the day 11-2, won a critical bout to tie close the gap to 4-3 before Carnick tied the match at 4. In the ninth bout, however, the Wildcats picked up the win to clinch the match 5-4.
Despite the close loss, the Irish are looking forward to fencing the Wildcats in the JACC at the Midwest Championships.
"I guess maybe they were a little more up for it than we were," DeMaio said. "But we will see them again down the road so hopefully we will have a chance to get it back."
Although the women's sabre team dropped the match to Northwestern, it finished the day strong with a 5-1 record. Freshman Natalia Mazur led the Irish with a 13-1 record while Katie Flanagan and Carinanne McCullough went 12-4 and 11-2, respectively.
With captain and All-American Magda Krol fencing just six bouts, the foil team still posted an undefeated weekend. In Krol's place, Kelly Orsi fenced a strong weekend and finished with an 11-2 record. Freshman Liza Boutsikaris continued to shine with an 11-0 record while Aimee Kalogera posted an 12-5 record.
With the exception of the Northwestern women, both the Notre Dame men and the women faced few challenges. After fencing some of the top teams in the country the past two weeks, getting focused for lesser competition was a challenge.
"Coming off the last two weekends which were big weekends for us, it's a little tough to stay focused," Harris said. "But we still have to remain focused because these are our conference opponents and we need to do well against them."
The Irish men left no doubt about their dominance in the conference after the meet. With most of the Irish starters fencing two or less bouts per match, the Irish reserves got their chance to shine.
"My No. 2 priority after winning is getting in all my other guys — getting them qualified so they can compete in the Midwest Championships," Harris said "We just want to make sure everyone gets a reward for all their hard work in practice."
Clay Morton and Tony Rizzuti both posted perfect records for the sabre team. While the foil team got strong performances by the 4-0 Harris and Jeremy Beau who went 4-1, epee reserves Dominic Guarnaschelli and Scott Gabler went 5-1 and 4-1, respectively.
In addition to the undefeated records of Casas, Debic, Szelle, Walton and Bednarski, the Irish starters posted strong weekends. Epee captain James Gaither posted nine wins while Jan Viviani added seven. Sophomore Steve Mautone complemented Debic and Walton's undefeated records with a 13-2 record.
All Sports Stories for Monday, February 7, 2000
