Feb. 1, 2001
The Notre Dame men's and women's fencing teams will welcome 10 schools
to the Joyce Center Fieldhouse for this weekend's Notre Dame Open, to be
held Feb. 3-4. The event is open to the public and free of charge.
The competition begins at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, as both teams square
off against Michigan State. Subsequent bouts will take place at
approximately 90-minute intervals, ending at approximately 6:00 p.m. The
event then resumes on Sunday at 8:00 a.m. (with bouts versus Minnesota)
and will conclude at approximately 3:30 p.m.
Five pairs of rotating teams will be competing in dual meets at each
90-minute interval, with the 11th team having a rotating bye (Notre
Dame's bye will fall on Saturday, in the 4:30 time slot).
Teams appearing at the open include Air Force, Chicago, Cleveland State,
Detroit, Lawrence, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern and
Purdue.
Northwestern provides a formidable opponent for the Notre Dame women
(6-3), who escaped last week's Northwestern Open with a 14-13 victory
over the fourth-ranked Wildcats. The Notre Dame men and women will face
Northwestern on Sunday at approximately 11:00 a.m.
The Notre Dame men look to remain undefeated (9-0) through the weekend.
That could prove to be a difficult task, considering the presence of a
strong Air Force squad. The Falcons' strength lies in epee, led by
sophomore All-American Weston Kelsey (he placed ninth at last year's
NCAA Championship). The ND-Air Force clash will precede the Northwestern
matchup, at 9:30 on Sunday morning.
The Irish women will be led by a dominant sabre squad, which includes
senior Carianne McCullough(10-4), sophomore All-American Natalia
Mazur(11-7), and freshmen Destanie Milo(15-4) and Jessie Filkins(13-2).
The Irish will need strong performances from their pair of All-American
epeeists, sophomores Meagan Call(18-7), and Anna Carnick(14-11), while
the women's foil squad boasts sophomore All-American Liza
Boutsikaris(21-4) and freshman Maggie Jordan(18-6).
The Irish men will look to counter Air Force's dominant epee squad with
the return of sophomore Jan Viviani(10-2), who was competing in an
international event in Cuba last week while the rest of the team fenced
at the Northwestern Open. The men's foil team is led by All-American
Ozren Debic(18-1), and fellow sophomore Forrest Walton(12-8). The men's
sabre squad is headed by defending national champion Gabor Szelle(15-2)
and senior All-American Andrzej Bednarski (9-1).
NOTRE DAME'S TENTATIVE BOUT SCHEDULE:
Saturday, February 3, 2001:
9:00 a.m. Michigan State
10:30 a.m. Detroit Mercy
12:00 p.m. Chicago
1:30 p.m. Wayne State
3:00 p.m. Cleveland State
4:30 p.m. (Bye)
Sunday, February 4, 2001:
8:00 a.m. Minnesota
9:30 a.m. Air Force
11:00 a.m. Northwestern
12:30 p.m. Michigan
2:00 p.m. Lawrence
