FENCING: Irish call on the A-team
Mike Connolly
Outside Looking In
MADISON, N.J.
At the high-pressure NCAA Championship, freshmen are supposed to get nervous. They are supposed to lose concentration a few times and drop some silly bouts. They are supposed to get rattled by the crowds, get intimidated by the tough competition and falter under pressure with a championship on the line.
They are certainly not supposed to combine for 27 wins and sit in first and second place after the first day.
But that's exactly what Alicja Kryczalo and Andrea Ament have done. Kryzcalo's 14-0 record places her in first place of the women's foil competition, while Ament's 13-1 record sits her in second.
They've been as reliable as a pair of seniors — so reliable that Irish fans have taken to calling them the A-Team. When the sabre and epee fencers won just eight of their first 20 bouts, the foil team churned out nine wins out of 10 bouts. The only loss came when Kryczalo beat Ament head-to-head.
When the Irish have a problem and no one else can help, all they have to do is find the A-Team.
Just like the 1980s TV show, the Irish A-Team always delivers.
And they do it with stone-cold efficiency.
Ament and Kryczalo's bouts are rarely suspenseful or even exciting. Kryczalo won eight of her bouts without yielding a touch while Ament shut out two of her opponents. The closest bout Kryczalo had Thursday was her 5-3 win against Ament. Nobody else scored more than two touches.
"I thought I could score like that because I felt a lot of pressure on me because I am one of the fencers who can win this," Kryczalo said. "I felt glad to do this well because I couldn't do any better."
Ament's only close bout of the day came against Metta Thompson of Ohio State. Thompson jumped out to a 4-1 lead before Ament mounted her comeback. With machine-like efficiency, she calmly broke down Thompson's defenses and collected a 5-4 win.
The A-Team delivered again.
"I wish we had the same two girls in epee and sabre," head coach Yves Auriol said with a smile. "I would be walking around very relaxed."
But this 2002 version of the A-Team is completely lacking Mr. T's bad attitude.
Both Kryczalo and Ament are as easygoing and polite off the strip as they are ruthlessly efficient with their weapons.
They quickly dispatch each opponent with a smile and little celebration. They both point out that their individual successes are only important because they can help the team win a national title.
"I've never really come from a team with a team spirit. I've never really cared about a team or even had a team before," Ament said. "This is exciting for me. I feel like this is not even individual for me, but really fighting for the team."
For the past eight years, some weakness in an individual weapon or weapons has prevented the Irish from winning another national title. But with Ament and Kryczalo beating every fencer that dares to step on the strip with them, a poor showing by an individual can be covered up.
Because the Irish know: If they have a problem, and no one else can help, they can always rely on the A-Team.
Contact Mike Connolly at Connolly.28@nd.edu. The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily The Observer.
All Sports Stories for Friday, March 22, 2002
