CollegeFencing360 .com

The Yale men's and women's fencing teams each posted a pair of home wins on Saturday, as the Bulldogs men's team registered a pair of 15-12 wins (versus Sacred Heart and Drew) while the women's team topped Sacred Heart 19-8 and Drew 22-5.

Yale next takes on Ivy League competition, in a two-part series – with the south competition to be held at Columbia on Sunday, Feb. 8, while the Ivy North bouts will be Feb. 22 at Brown.

The Sacred Heart men actually outscored Yale in two weapons (6-3 in epee, 5-4 in sabre), but the Bulldogs countered with an 8-1 edge in foil for the three-point win. Drew (in sabre) and Yale (in foil) then traded 5-4 wins, but the Bulldogs used a 6-3 margin in epee for the 15-12 final.

The Yale women parlayed a 9-0 sweep in foil for the comfortable win over Drew, adding a 6-3 margin in epee and a 7-2 sabre vicrory. Earlier in the day, Yale's 19-8 win over Sacred Heart featured weapon wins in foil (8-1) and sabre (6-3), with the Pioneer women claiming a 5-4 edge in epee.

Four Yale fencers with NCAA Tournament experience combined to go 16-6 in Saturday's bouts. All-America epeeist Michael Pearce – who placed fifth at the 2007 NCAAs (also 13th in '08) – went 5-1 in his bouts, while foilists John Guerrieri and Nathaniel Botwinick both were 3-2 (Gurrieri placed 13th at the '08 NCAAs, Botwinick 20th). 

Saturday's six rounds of women's matches at the Northwestern Duals yielded only one upset, among the six matchups between top-10 teams. Second-ranked Notre Dame upset #1 Penn State, 19-8, with the balance Irish effort including seven wins in epee and six each in foil and sabre.

Penn State did manage to post a seven-point win over #3 Ohio State, led by a 7-2 PSU edge in epee (the other weapons were 5-4), and won by an even wider margin (20-7) versus 6th-ranked homestanding Northwestern (the Wildcats won foil, 5-4, but were shut out in epee and won only two sabre bouts vs. OSU).

Notre Dame's 6-0 day also included a 19-8 victory over #8 Temple, which battled the Irish close in foil (4-5; ND won epee and sabre 7-2).

Ohio State (5-1) doubled up the home team (18-9), on the strength of its sabre (8-1) and foil teams (7-2; NU won epee, 6-3), in addition to adding a 17-10 win over Temple (seven wins in sabre, five each in foil and epee). 

More specific details from the top-10 matchups will be included in a blog posting later today, as will some info. on the top fencers from some of the other squads in the 12-team field.

Two of the fencers in action at this weekend's Northwestern Duals – Ohio State senior men's foilist Andras Horanyi (Boulder, Colo.) and Wayne State junior men's epeeist Slava Zingerman (Ashkelon, Israel) – already own two NCAA individual titles. If either of those elite fencers manages to win another title, they would join an exclusive group of fencers who have totaled three-plus NCAA titles.

Interestingly enough, the 12 previous fencers with three or more NCAA titles include more from Wayne State (3) than any other school, plus two each from NYU, Ohio State and Penn State (also one each from Columbia, Notre Dame and Stanford). Those "three-peat/four-peat" champions include nine men (four foilists, four sabreists, one epeeist) and three women (two foilists, one epeeist).

FENCERS WHO HAVE WON THREE OR FOUR NCAA INDIVIDUAL TITLES
Bruce Soriano (3) ... men's sabre ... Columbia (1970-72)
Risto Hurme (3) ... men's epee ... NYU (1973-75)
Greg Benko (3) ... men's foil ... Wayne State (1974-76) 
Ernest Simon (3) ... men's foil ... Wayne State (1978, '80-'81)
Michael Lofton (4) ... men's sabre ... NYU (1984-87)
Nick Bravin (3) ... men's foil ... Stanford (1990, '92-'93)
Thomas Strzalkowski (3) ... men's sabre ... Penn State (1992-94)
Olga Kalinovskaya (4) ... women's foil ... Penn State (1993-96)
Alicja Kryczalo (3) ... women's foil ... Notre Dame (2002-04)
Boaz Ellis (3) ... men's foil ... Ohio State (2004-06)
Andre Crompton ... men's sabre ... Ohio State (2003-04, '06)
Anna Garina (3) ... women's epee ... Wayne State (2004-05, '07)

Today's blog entries may be a bit delayed, as we are limited by the communications setup at each facility. We had initial word that Ohio State All-America men's sabreist Sergey Smirnov was at the Northwestern Duals, after not competing last week at the SJU Invite or NYU Duals (it later was confirmed that Smirnov is not with the Buckeyes at today's event).

Notre Dame sophomore men's foilist Steve Kubik also is at the NU Duals (he did not fence last week), as is ND freshman foil phenom Gerek Meinhardt (who was fencing overseas last weekend, at a World Cup Grand Prix event in Paris). Meinhardt competed with the U.S. men's foil team at the 2008 Olympic Games, becoming the youngest Olympic fencer in Team USA history.

Notre Dame may boast the deepest four-man foil unit in collegiate fencing, with Meinhardt, brothers Steve and Mark Kubik (a senior), and sophomore Zach Schirtz. Mark Kubik is a two-time NCAA Tournament competitor, earning All-America honors with his 7th-place finish in 2007 (he was 21st in '06). The younger Kubik (8th) and Schirtz (11th) followed up with All-America finishes at the 2008 NCAAs. Most recently, last week at the NYU Duals, the ND men's foilists (Meinhardt, Schirtz and Mark Kubik) swept two-time defending NCAA champion Andras Horanyi, helping clinch the Irish win over Ohio State.

Five former NCAA champions – in every weapon except for men's sabre – are on the various teams that will compete at this weekend's Northwestern Duals. Those elite fencers include a pair of two-time champions: Ohio State men's foilist Andras Horanyi ('07 and '08; also was '06 runner-up behind former teammate Boaz Ellis) and Wayne State men's epeeist Slava Zingerman ('07, '08).

The other former NCAA champions who are slated to be in action at the NU Duals include Penn State women's foilist Doris Willette ('07) along with a pair of Notre Dame fencers, women's sabreist Sarah Borrmann ('08) and women's epeeist Kelley Hurley ('08; also was '07 runner-up).

The 12-team field also includes three other fencers who have been an NCAA runner-up (along with Horanyi and Hurley): Ohio State men's sabreist Mike Momtselidze ('08; also 4th in '07), Penn State women's sabreist Caity Thompson ('07; also 4th in '06) and Ohio State women's foilist Oksana Dmytruk ('08).

Five other fencers from teams at the NU Duals have reached the semifinal round at previous NCAAs: Penn State men's sabreist Daniel Bak (3rd in '08), Notre Dane women's foilist Adi Nott (3rd in '07, 4th in '08; also 6th in '06) and epeeist Ewa Nelip (3rd in '08), and the Penn State duo of men's foilist Nick Chinman (4th in '08; also 5th in '07) and women's epeeist Anastasia Ferdman (4th in '07; also 6th in '08).

(This is it for today from the CF360 blog – catch up with us later in the week and be sure to check the site throughout the season, as we will be making regular additions and upgrades, including some photos to help enhance the design.)

• • •

Sunday's 10-team action at the Princeton Multi-Meet produced a handful of upsets, most notably the 6th-ranked University of Pennsylvania men's team 17-10 win over co-#1 Penn State. The three upsets in the women's competition were fairly minor: #8 Temple beat #7 Princeton (16-11) but the Owls also lost to #9 Penn (9-18), while #10 Duke lost (13-14) to a Cornell team that is not ranked among the top-10.

The event served as the first big collegiate stage for Duke freshman sabreist Becca Ward, who claimed a pair of bronze medals (individual and team) as a member of the U.S. women's sabre team at the Beijing Olympics. Ward went 14-2 at Princeton, surrendering a total of only 24 touches in those 16 bouts.

Ward lost to a familiar foe in Penn State's Caity Thompson (3-5), as they have been teammates on various U.S. national teams and each trains at the Oregon Fencing Alliance (an elite sabre academy in the Portland area). University of Pennsylvania All-American Danielle Kamis – who placed 10th at the 2008 NCAAs – also scored a win over Ward, 5-2. 

The 4th-ranked Columbia-Barnard women's fencing team continued its strong weekend during the morning bouts at the NYU Duals, winning all four of their matches – highlighted by a 14-13 battle with #2 Notre Dame and a 15-12 win over #3 Ohio State. There were no other upsets (based on the national polls) in the men's or women's competition, with two rounds still remaining at NYU.

The C-B women avenged their only loss from Saturday's bouting at the St. John's Invitational, as the Lions shook off the earlier 18-9 loss to ND to edge the Irish women by a single bout (adding to the recent history of 14-13 thrillers between ND and Columbia, in both men's and women's fencing). 

All three weapons in the ND-CB showdown produced one-point margins (5-4), with the Lions winning foil and sabre while the Irish had the slim edge in epee.

A quick perusal of the scoresheets suggests than the Lions surged past the Irish by sweeping the final three epee bouts (despite losing five of the first six), with clutch wins from Tess Finkel (4-3 over Ewa Nelip), Martina Urbanowicz (5-2 vs. Courtney Hurley) and Neely Brandfield-Harvey (5-4, vs. fellow Texas native Kelley Hurley). 

Four other top-10 matchups have gone to the higher-ranked teams, with the #5 Princeton men, #6 Penn men, #7 Princeton women and #9 Penn women all defeating the respective 10th-ranked Duke teams.

Matchups still remaining include:

round 4 – Duke vs. Cornell (women), Penn vs. Penn State, Haverford vs. UNC, Princeton vs. Temple (women)/Johns Hopkins (men)

round 5 – Princeton vs. UNC, Temple (women)/Johns Hopkins (men) vs. Duke, Penn vs. Drew, Penn State vs. Haverford

round 6 – Princeton vs. Drew, Temple vs. Cornell (women), Duke vs. Haverford

(It will be interesting to see how PSU does vs. Penn; would have been nice to see the Nittany Lions take on Princeton as well.)

Thanks to the folks at Princeton for sending along some early results (three rounds):

Princeton Multi-Meet (rounds 1-3)

Men's Scores
#1 Penn State 18 (F5, E8, S5), #10 Duke 9 (F4, E1, S4)
#1 Penn State 22 (F7, E7, S8), Johns Hopkins 5 (F2, E2, S1)
#1 Penn State 23 (F9, E5, S9), Drew 4 (F0, E4, S0)

#5 Princeton 24 (F9, E9, S6), Haverford 3 (F0, E0, S3)
#5 Princeton 17 (F4, E7, S6), #10 Duke 10 (F5, E2, S3)

The "post-Olympic effect" will play out in college fencing once again this year, as several elite athletes have returned to compete for their college teams. Most notable from that group is Harvard foilist Emily Cross, who in 2005 (as a freshman) stopped Notre Dame's Alicja Kryczalo from winning her fourth straight NCAA individual title (Cross won their showdown in the fnal, 15-5). Cross then took third at the 2006 NCAAs (behind SJU's Erzberet Garay and Princeton's Jacqueline Leahy), helping the Crimson win their first NCAA team fencing title.

Cross did not fence for Harvard the past two seasons ('07 and '08) – in order to focus on qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team (she did, reaching the top-32 in the individual competition while helping the U.S. women's foil squad bring home silver from Beijing) – but she is back in 2009, for her fifth and final year of eligibility. Cross had a solid showing yesterday at the St. John's Invitational, going 5-1 with a sweep of SJU and a 2-1 record against Ohio State (her only loss came 5-3 to Oksana Dmytruk, the 2008 NCAA runner-up).

All of the team scores are in from the St. John' Invitational, which produced several upsets (based on the first national poll, which was released yesterday).

The host Red Storm enjoyed an encouraging day in the men's bouting, as #9-ranked SJU upset #4 Columbia (18-9) and edged #7 Harvard (14-13), in addition to nearly knocking off the co-#1 Notre Dame men (13-14). 

There were two minor upsets in the women's matches, with #4 Columbia-Barnard besting #3 Ohio State (17-10) while the #5 Harvard women also topped OSU (15-12).

St. John's Invitational Team Scores

Men's Scores
#1 Notre Dame 17 (F7, E4, S6), #4 Columbia 10 (F2, E5, S3)
#1 Notre Dame 14 (F8, E3, S3), #9 St. John's 13 (F1, E6, S6)
#3 Ohio State 17 (F7, E5, S5), #9 St. John's 10 (F2, E4, S4)
#3 Ohio State 18 (F6, E6, S6), #4 Columbia 9 (F3, E3, S3)
#3 Ohio State 17 (F8, E3, S6), #7 Harvard 10 (F1, E6, S3)
#9 St. John's 18 (F4, E7, S7), #4 Columbia 9 (F5, E2, S2)
#9 St. John's 14 (F1, E7, S6), #7 Harvard 13 (F8, E2, S3)

Women's Scores
#2 Notre Dame 18 (F6, E9, S3), #4 Columbia-Barnard 9 (F3, E0, S6)
#2 Notre Dame 18 (F9, E6, S3), #11 St. John's 9 (F0, E3, S6)
#3 Ohio State 14 (F7, E2, S5), #11 St. John's 13 (F2, E7, S4)
#4 Columbia-Barnard 17 (F4, E5, S8), #3 Ohio State 10 (F5, E4, S1)
#5 Harvard 15 (F5, E6, S4), #3 Ohio State 12 (F4, E3, S5)
#4 Columbia-Barnard 20 (F8, E7, S5), #11 St. John's 7 (F1, E2, S4)
#5 Harvard 18 (F9, E6, S3), #11 St. John's 9 (F0, E3, S6)

The St. John's website offered video streaming for some of the early bouts from today's Invitational. It sometimes was difficult to follow who was fencing, but kudos to St. John's for making the effort and providing this unique content.

We have received confirmed team scores from Notre Dame's first two matches, and the closest battle was the ND men edging the SJU men (14-13). Earlier in the day, Notre Dame swept Columbia (18-9 women, 17-10 men) and the ND women then won by the same score over SJU.

(We will pass on more team scores and details, as they become available).

During the early men's sabre bouts, St. John's newcomer Daryl Homer impressively posted a 5-2 win over Ohio State veteran Mike Momtselidze (the 2008 NCAA runner-up). SJU women's sabreist Dagmara Wozniak – who did not fence collegiately last year, while qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team – also was in action and could (like Homer) be in the mix for the NCAA title this season (along with a talented group of top returners, from all over the country).