(note that the paragraph below regarding "vacated" bouts has been adjusted to indicate the potentiality – albeit extremely rare – that there still could be co-team champions, despite the current uneven number of projected total bouts.)
Penn State inched closer to winning the NCAA Combined Men's and Women's Fencing Championship, following Saturday's four rounds of bouting in each of the women's weapons. PSU entered the day with a 14-point cushion over second-place team Ohio State and now has a slightly bigger margin, as the new second-place team (Notre Dame) is 16 points behind the Nittany Lions (156-140). The Irish headed into Saturday trailing nine points behind their regional rival OSU, which now stands a single point behind ND (in third place).
Saturday's "afternoon half" of bouting (two rounds each in foil and epee) produced an impressive string of bouts for Notre Dame, which nearly went unbeaten in that stretch (23-1, compared to 18-6 for PSU and 18-6 by OSU) – as the Irish crept in front of the Buckeyes. Each of the top three teams has 54-56 bouts remaining for Sunday, with PSU likely to claim the title barring what would be an historic comeback by ND or OSU.
Note that ND and OSU (both 56) actually have two more bouts remaining than PSU (54), due to the unusual format with 25 women's foilists in the field (instead of the usual 24 for each weapon). One of the "travel groups" has four foilists (all others have three), and both ND and OSU have yet to face that four-fencer group.
There's also another "fluke" scoring issue floating out there, due to Thursday's withdrawal of Duke men's foilist Dorian Cohen. Per NCAA rules, Cohen's earlier bouts (before his injury) still count to the team and individual standings, but the bouts that were scheduled after his withdrawal are simply vacated (i.e not forfeited). The two ND foilists and the OSU pair all missed out on fencing Cohen, while PSU fenced him once – meaning that the Nittany Lions will end the tournament having fenced 275 total bouts (compared to 274 for ND and OSU).
The final team standings are based on victory total – but if ND or OSU somehow manage to finish only one win/point behind Penn State, then PSU's other bout vs. Cohen (a win) would be extracted from the team standings and there would be co-champions.
Penn State (58-20) narrowly edged ND (56-22) in overall won-loss record on Saturday, while OSU went only 46-32. The ND women's epeeists (Courtney Hurley and Ewa Nelip) were the class duo of the day, combining to go 24-2. The Irish also had a strong day in foil (20-6) but surprisingly finished sub-.500 in their sabre bouts (12-14).
The Ohio State women were projected to be competitive in foil and sabre but weakest in epee. That proved to be the case, as the OSU epeeists failed to crack double-digits in wins (9-17) but were much stronger in foil (19-7) and sabre (18-8).
At the end of the day, it would appear that Penn State is deserving of the title thanks to talent and depth throughout all six weapons. PSU went 20-6 in foil, 20-6 in epee and 18-8 in sabre on Saturday, one day after seeing all three of its men's weapons total 25-plus wins (36-10 in foil, 25-21 in epee, 37-9 in sabre).
Notre Dame's fencers combined to go 8-4 vs. PSU and OSU on Saturday, while the Nittany Lions were 9-7 in those key bouts and the Buckeyes 3-5. Penn State's epee team still has some key bouts left for Sunday (vs. ND and OSU), with other crucial matchups on the final day including ND vs. OSU in both foil and sabre.
The Irish would appear to have the better chance than the Buckeyes of making a final-day push, as all six of the ND women's entrants are capable of
KEY SATURDAY RESULTS (ND 8-4 ... PSU 9-7 ... OSU 3-5)
Women's Foil: Penn State vs. Ohio St. (PSU 2, OSU 2) ... Penn St. vs. Notre Dame (PSU 2, ND 2)
Women's Epee: Ohio State vs. Notre Dame (ND 4, OSU 0)
Women's Sabre: Penn St. vs. Notre Dame (ND 2, PSU 2) ... Penn St. vs. Ohio St. (PSU 3, OSU 1)
KEY SUNDAY BOUTS
Women's Foil: Notre Dame vs. Ohio State
Women's Epee: Penn State vs. Notre Dame ... Penn State vs. Ohio State
Women's Sabre: Notre Dame vs. Ohio State
Full team standings (with win totals in all six weapons) will be posted later, but here are the other top-10 teams heading into Sunday: 4. Columbia 118; 5. St. John's 90; 6. Harvard 85; 7. Penn 84; 8. Princeton 75; 9. Stanford 66; 10. Yale 56.