FENCING: Top freshman fencer breaks foot
By MIKE CONNOLLY
Sports Writer
Against its toughest competitor in the Midwest Fencing Conference, Notre Dame will be battling short-handed.
Freshman epeeist Michal Sobieraj fractured a bone in his foot and will not fence against Ohio State this weekend in Columbus, Ohio. Sobieraj's injury which he suffered against Northwestern last weekend will keep him out for at least the next three weeks. The Irish expect their top male freshman to be ready to fence against at the NCAA qualifiers in March but not before then.
"We are kind of stunned right now," foil captain Ozren Debic said.
On the year, Sobieraj is 26-1 with his only loss coming against Air Force All-American Seth Kelsey.
The injury comes at a bad time for the Irish as Ohio State is expected to be Notre Dame's top Midwestern competition. Sobieraj's injury will move senior Brian Casas into the No. 2 spot while the No. 3 spot will be filled with a walk-on.
"When someone like Michal is out, you just can't replace someone of that caliber," sabre captain Andre Crompton said.
The strength of the Buckeyes lies in their epee and sabre squads. National team members Colin Parker and Jason Rogers make Ohio State's sabre team one of the best in the country while epeeist Alan Jones led the Buckeyes to a 5-4 win against perennial power Penn State last weekend.
The weakness of the Buckeyes lies in their foil squad. With Sobieraj out, Debic said his squad will try to build as big a lead as possible to make up for a weaker epee squad.
"We are going to have to try to make the biggest advanage possible because this is their weakest weapon," Debic said.
The sabre squad will have a little more pressure on itself as well this weekend with the epee squad down a man. Crompton said that Ohio State's squad is definitely the toughest the Irish will fence in the Midwest but not quite comparable to St. John's top sabreman Ivan Lee.
"I have fenced [Parker and Rogers] a lot when I was younger," he said. "We grew up fencing nationally together. Colin and Jason are both great fencers but I don't think they are out of our league. It's going to come down to a good fight."
Crompton said that although Ohio State's top two sabremen are strong, he believes that the Irish depth will carry them to victory. He doesn't think the Buckeye's No. 3 fencer is on par with himself, Andrzej Bednarski and Matt Fabricant.
The Notre Dame women will also be in action this weekend in Columbus, Ohio.
The Irish will face the Buckeyes but their toughest competition will come from the Northwestern Wildcats. The Wildcats beat the Irish last weekend 15-12 but the Irish were fencing without freshman foilist Andrea Ament. Ament missed last weekend because she was fencing at a World Cup event in Germany. Even though Ament is back in action for the Irish this weekend, she will be slowed by an ankle injury she suffered in Germany. She is expected to fence just not at 100 percent.
All Sports Stories for Friday, February 8, 2002
