March 19, 1998
Notre Dame Leads After First Day At NCAA Fencing Championships
NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- Notre Dame's women's fencing team, bolstered by a 7-1
head-to-head record against three-time defending champion Penn State, stands in
first place after the first of four days at the NCAA men's and women's fencing
championships at the Angela Athletic Facility in Notre Dame, Ind. The Irish
lead the field with 44 points while Stanford is second with 42 points and Penn
State third with 34. Yale is fourth with 31 and Columbia-Barnard fifth with 28.
The women fenced five of eight rounds on Thursday with rounds 6-8 and the
championship bouts to conclude on Friday. Men's sabre will fence rounds 1-5 on
Friday and conclude on Saturday. Men's epee and foil will be contested Saturday
and Sunday.
The championship consists of 120 fencers in five weapons with teams receiving
one point for each win in the 24 fencer round-robin competition in each weapon.
The top four fencers in each weapon advance to the championship semifinal and
final where the winner in each weapon will be determined. Wins in this portion
of the competition do not count toward team standings.
Notre Dame's two-time NCAA women's foil runner-up Sara Walsh leads the women's
foil competition with a 13-1 record with her only loss coming to Ohio State's
defending champion Yelena Kalkina in a rematch of the 1997 title bout. Stanford
Felicia Zimmermann and Monique de Bruin and Columbia-Barnard's Erinn Smart all
stand at 12-2.
Penn State's Alexandra Korfanty leads the women's epee competition with a 12-2
record with both of her losses coming to Notre Dame. Penn State's Charlotte
Walker, Stanford's Jessica Lisagor, St. John's 1996 NCAA women's epee champion
Nicole Dygert, Penn's Kari Coley and Notre Dame's Nicole Mustilli have identical
11-3 records.
The Irish lead the competition on the strength of the 7-1 record against Penn
State. Walsh and Brown went 4-0 against the Nittany Lions in women's foil while
Mustilli and Magda Krol were 3-1. Stanford has not yet fenced Notre Dame and
Penn State in either epee or foil.
Penn State is looking for its fourth straight NCAA fencing championship. Notre
Dame, NCAA champions in 1994, is the last team to beat the Nittany Lions at the
NCAA championships.
First Day Notes
- Notre Dame's Sara Walsh leads the women's foil competition with a 13-1 record, her only loss coming to Ohio State defending NCAA women's foil champion Yelena Kalkina by a 5-4 score. The Stanford duo of Felicia Zimmermann and Monique de Bruin and Columbia's Erinn Smart are all tied for second with 12-2 records. Kalkina is ninth at 10-4.
- Penn State's Alexandra Korfanty leads the women's epee competition with a 12-2 record with both losses coming to Notre Dame's defending women's epee champion Magda Krol and Nicole Mustilli. Five fencers are tied for second at 11-3, including St. John's 1996 women's epee champion Nicole Dygert.
- The first touch of the 1998 NCAA men's and women's fencing championships was scored by Walsh against Brown. Walsh trailed 4-1 in that bout before winning 5-4.
- In an early rematch of the 1997 championship bout, Dygert defeated Krol 5-4 in the second round.
- Kalkina lost her first bout of the championship to teammate and 1997 third-place finisher Patricia Szelle 5-1. Kalkina beat Smart 5-1 in round three, handing Smart her first defeat of the championship.
- In head-to-head competition between Notre Dame and Penn State, the Irish went 7-1. In round three of women's foil, the Irish swept the Lions 4-0. Walsh beat Claire Jackson 5-0 and Brown rallied from 3-1 to beat Carla Esteva 5-3. Brown then beat Jackson 5-1 and Walsh beat Esteva 5-2.
- Penn State and Notre Dame fenced women's epee in round five with the Irish winning three of the four bouts. Krol handed Korfanty her first loss of the championship 5-4 and Mustilli beat second-place Charlotte Walker 5-4 after both Krol and Mustilli scored double-touches after leading 4-3. Mustilli beat Korfanty 5-3 before Walker gave Penn State its only victory against Notre Dame with a 5-1 win over Krol.
- Round three also saw Stanford and St. John's, two of the top women's epee teams, battle head-to-head with the four fencers split 2-2. The Cardinal's Jessica Lisagor beat both Dygert 5-3 and Raven Johnson 5-1. Dygert and Johnson both beat Stanford Nelia Mann 5-4.
- Two of the top women's foil pairs highlighted round four as Midwestern rivals Notre Dame and Ohio State battled to a 3-1 Irish advantage. Brown rallied from 3-1 and 4-3 deficits for a 5-4 win over Kalkina before Walsh rallied from 3-1 for a 5-3 win over Patricia Szelle. Brown beat Szelle 5-2 before Kalkina, after leading 4-2, held off Walsh 5-4 in a rematch of the 1997 NCAA women's foil title bout.
- Penn State and Ohio State fenced in women's foil in round five with the Buckeyes winning 3-1. Kalkina beat Jackson 5-0 and Szelle beat Esteva 5-2. Szelle then beat Jackson 5-3 before Esteva downed Kalkina 5-1.
First Day Results
Place Team MS MF ME WF WE Points
----- ------------------------------- -- -- -- -- -- ------
1. Notre Dame 0 0 0 24 20 44
2. Stanford University 0 0 0 24 18 42
3. Penn State 0 0 0 11 23 34
4. Yale University 0 0 0 17 14 31
5. Columbia/Barnard 0 0 0 23 5 28
6. St. John's University 0 0 0 9 15 24
7. Ohio State University 0 0 0 20 0 20
8. Pennsylvania, University of 0 0 0 7 11 18
9. New York University 0 0 0 7 8 15
10. Wayne State 0 0 0 8 6 14
11. Temple University 0 0 0 7 6 13
12. Princeton University 0 0 0 1 10 11
12. Rutgers University 0 0 0 5 6 11
14. U.C.S.D. 0 0 0 0 9 9
15. Northwestern 0 0 0 0 8 8
16. Air Force 0 0 0 5 0 5
16. Fairleigh Dickenson 0 0 0 0 5 5
18. Cornell University 0 0 0 0 2 2
18. UNC, Chapel Hill 0 0 0 0 2 2
20. Boston College 0 0 0 0 0 0
20. Brandeis University 0 0 0 0 0 0
20. Brown University 0 0 0 0 0 0
20. Cleveland State 0 0 0 0 0 0
20. Cal State, Fullerton 0 0 0 0 0 0
20. Case Western Reserve 0 0 0 0 0 0
20. Detroit Mercy 0 0 0 0 0 0
20. Duke University 0 0 0 0 0 0
20. Harvard University 0 0 0 0 0 0
20. Johns Hopkins 0 0 0 0 0 0
20. Lawrence University 0 0 0 0 0 0
20. M.I.T. 0 0 0 0 0 0
WOMEN'S FOIL
Place Name Team V V/B TS TR Ind
----- ---------------------------- ---------------- --- ----- --- --- ----
1. Sara Walsh Notre Dame 13 .928 69 27 +42
2. Zimmermann, Felicia Stanford 12 .857 66 21 +45
3. Smart, Erinn Columbia/Barnard 12 .857 63 26 +37
4. de Bruin, Monique Stanford 12 .857 63 28 +35
5. Zuckerman, Kate Yale 11 .785 63 33 +30
6. Brown, Myriah Notre Dame 11 .785 65 41 +24
7. Jennings, Susan Columbia/Barnard 11 .785 62 46 +16
8. Szelle, Patricia Ohio State 10 .714 60 36 +24
9. Kalkina, Yelena Ohio State 10 .714 59 38 +21
10. Esteva, Carla Penn State 8 .571 56 48 +8
11. Wysiadecka, Agata Wayne State 8 .571 53 52 +1
12. Appel, Hannah Yale 6 .428 47 50 -3
13. Hai, Angela N.Y.U. 6 .428 48 54 -6
14. Moroney, Karen St. John's 6 .428 44 55 -11
15. Orrico, Christina Rutgers 5 .357 44 58 -14
16. Beecher, Jaime Temple 5 .357 41 57 -16
17. Hawes, Zoe Air Force 5 .357 36 58 -22
18. Gromulska, Jagna Pennsylvania 4 .285 41 63 -22
19. Jackson, Claire Penn State 3 .214 38 62 -24
20. Katz, Margo Pennsylvania 3 .214 37 65 -28
21. Romanek, Karla St. John's 3 .214 35 64 -29
22. Barnes-Hopkins, Marissa Temple 2 .142 38 63 -25
23. Szotyory-Grove, Orsi Princeton 1 .071 27 66 -39
24. De Villa, Emily N.Y.U. 1 .071 23 67 -44
WOMEN'S EPEE
Place Name Team V V/B TS TR Ind
----- ---------------------------- ---------------- --- ----- --- --- ----
1. Korfanty, Alexandra Penn State 12 .857 67 42 +25
2. Walker, Charlotte Penn State 11 .785 67 31 +36
3. Lisagor, Jessica Stanford 11 .785 64 45 +19
4. Dygert, Nicole St. John's 11 .785 63 46 +17
5. Coley, Kari Pennsylvania 11 .785 60 43 +17
5. Mustilli, Nicole Notre Dame 11 .785 60 43 +17
7. Krol, Magda Notre Dame 9 .642 59 41 +18
8. Katz, Sharon Yale 9 .642 60 47 +13
9. Wertz, Janet U.C. San Diego 9 .642 55 45 +10
10. Schaffner, Michelle Northwestern 8 .571 56 48 +8
11. Mann, Nelia Stanford 7 .500 55 54 +1
12. Beckert, Christy N.Y.U. 7 .500 54 55 -1
13. Hurme, Kristiina Princeton 7 .500 50 57 -7
14. Cunningham, Laura Rutgers 6 .428 56 59 -3
15. Sciubisz, Marta Wayne State 6 .428 52 58 -6
16. DeIeso, Gina Temple 6 .428 46 56 -10
17. Webb, Catie Fairleigh Dcknsn 5 .357 45 52 -7
18. Anderson, Whitney Yale 5 .357 50 59 -9
19. Mellman, Melinda Columbia/Barnard 5 .357 42 57 -15
20. Johnson, Raven St. John's 4 .285 48 62 -14
21. Acerra, Matilda Princeton 3 .214 39 62 -23
22. Byrd, Melanie North Carolina 2 .142 44 67 -23
23. Allen, Nancy Cornell 2 .142 42 65 -23
24. Martin, Nancy N.Y.U. 1 .071 29 69 -40
