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Fencing
Men's Fencing Solidifies No. 1 Claim, Pushes Winning Streak To 51 Matches
Feb. 2, 2002
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The second-ranked Notre Dame men's fencing team took another step towards claiming the nation's top ranking with a 23-4 victory over an undermanned fourth-ranked Stanford squad, with the Irish winning all six of their matches at Saturday's Air Force Duals-pushing their three-year, regular-season winning streak to 51 matches (now third-longest in the program's storied history and longest since a 98-match streak ended in 1988). The second-ranked Irish women also defeated fourth-ranked Stanford (20-7) but failed to close out an undefeated day, losing to Midwest rival and sixth-ranked Northwestern 15-12 (after rallying to forge a 10-10 tie). Several regular members from the competing teams did not participate due to a variety of reasons, including a schedule conflict with tomorrow's World Cup event in Waldkirch, Germany (where ND freshman foilist Andrea Ament is competing). The second USFCA national poll will not be released for seveal weeks, with St. John's holding the top spot in both the men's and women's preseason polls (the ND men beat SJU at last week's NYU Duals).
Junior Jan Viviani (Haworth, N.J.)-who owns the best career winning percentage (.885) in Notre Dame men's epee history-won all 15 of his bouts at AFA, yielding a 24-2 season record and landing him squarely on 100 career wins (with 13 losses). Viviani's perfect day included a 5-2 win over All-American Seth Kelsey, avenging his 1-0 loss to the Falcons' top fencer at the 2001 NCAAs, and a 5-2 win over Stanford All-American Graham Allen. Seven other Notre Dame fencers lost just one bout, paced by the program's all-time leader in men's epee winning percentage (.940/110-7, 5th in all weapons), junior captain Ozren Debic (Zagreb ,Croatia)-who went 16-1 on a day where he did not fence his Stanford rivals, brothers Felix and Florian Reichling.
Notre Dame men's epeeist Michal Sobieraj (Krakow, Poland) and his compatriot Alicja Kryczalo (Gdansk) continued their impressive freshman seasons, with Sobieraj's 26-1 season record including a 14-1 day at Air Force (with a 5-4 loss to Kelsey) while Kryczalo won 15 of her 16 foil bouts (for a 25-2 season mark), with her only loss coming to defending NCAA champion Iris Zimmerman of Stanford (5-2). Two members of the Irish men's sabre team-senior captain Andre Crompton (Irvington, N.J.) and junior Matt Fabricant (Elizabeth, N.J.)-both went 15-1, as did sophomore women's epeeist Kerry Walton (Londonderry, N.H.). Fifth-year women's sabre captain Carianne McCullough (Philadelphia, Pa.) rounded out Notre Dame's top records for the day, winning 12 of her 13 bouts. The ND-Northwestern matchup renewed the women's epee rivalry between the two squads, with the Wildcats posting a 5-4 edge. All-American Kate Rudkin-the fourth-place finisher at the 2001 NCAAs-accounted for three of those wins, including a 5-4 bout that represented Walton's only loss of the day. Walton (5-3) and junior captain Anna Carnick (5-4) did manage to beat NCAA qualifier Jen Greenebaum, who also lost to Carnick (5-1, 5-2) at the 2000 and '01 NCAAs (Carnick split her previous two NCAA bouts vs. Rudkin, 3-2 and 3-5).
The Irish men also defeated 10th--ranked Air Force (20-7), Duke (21-6), Cal State Fullerton (23-4), UC San Diego (25-2) and Northwestern (23-4). The Notre Dame women's 5-1 day included wins over Duke (21-6), Air Force (19-8), CSF (25-2) and UCSD (18-9). The Notre Dame men's 10-0 dual-match start has been led by a 74-16 bout record for the men's epee squad, followed closely by the veteran sabre unit (71-19). The 12-2 women's record owes much of its success to the women's epee squad (97-29), with the foilists not far behind at 92-34.
NOTES * In addition to Debic (.940, 6th), ND fencers ranked for career winning pct. (among all weapons) include Viviani (.885, 14th), Crompton (20th, .874, also 10th among sabres) and Fabricant (22nd, .870/87-13). * Junior women's foilist Liza Boutsikaris (12-4 at AFA) now ranks 15th on the ND women's fencing career winning pct. list for all weapons (120-24, .833) ... juniors Carnick (7th, 126-33) and fellow junior Meagan Call (8th, 118-38) rank in the ND women's epee career top-10 wins list. * ND's six wins at AFA pushed the current win streak (51) past a 46-match run ('89-'90) and a 50-match streak ('90-'93) into third on the ND list for all-time winning streaks, trailing the 98-match streak from 1984-88 and the amazing 122-match run during ND's dominating 1975-80 seasons. UPDATED STATISTICS
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