In its first collegiate action since early November, Notre Dame returned to form and showed why it is the reigning national champions, having a successful weekend at both the St. John’s SuperCup on Saturday and the Philadelphia Invitational on Sunday.
For the No. 1 Irish women, an undefeated Saturday was paired with a 4-1 result Sunday to wrap up the weekend’s competition while the Notre Dame men’s team, also ranked No. 1 nationally, went 2-2 on Saturday before going 4-1 on Sunday.
Both teams opened up against Columbia, whose women’s team is ranked No. 2 in the country, to start a fierce day of competition. While the women’s team was able to escape with the 14-13 victory, the men’s team was defeated by the same score. Leading the way for the women were junior Amanda Sirico and sophomore Julia Barry in the epee as well as junior sabreur Tara Hasset, senior sabreur Francesca Russo and junior foilist Elyssa Kleiner, all of whom put up 2-1 performances. The men saw a pair of 3-0 performances by senior sabreur Jonathan Fitzgerald and sophomore sabreur Arsenii Panteleev. As the day moved forward, the women continued to roll, picking up wins against Penn State, Harvard and St. John’s. The men would find similar success against the Nittany Lions and Red Storm, yet they would stumble when facing Harvard, losing to the Crimson by a score of 15-12. The Irish were scheduled to take on Ohio State to wrap up the event, but the final match was cancelled.
On the following day, the Irish traveled to Philadelphia, for rematches against St. John’s and Columbia as well as some fresh competition in Wayne State, NYU and Penn. After starting the day with a pair of victories over NYU and Wayne State, the men’s team found itself in a close match with the Quakers. Thanks to an undefeated performance by senior captain Jonah Shainberg, who went 3-0 in sabre, Notre Dame was able to snag the 14-13 victory, while the women’s team won 21-6, getting 3-0 performances out of Sirico, Russo, freshman sabreur Reghan Ward and sophomore foilist Morgan Partridge. In their second match against Columbia in as many days, it was the Lions that got the better of both Irish teams, handing the women their first loss of the season. The weekend was wrapped up with wins by both teams against St. John’s, led, in particular, by strong performances in foil, as the men went 8-1 in the event, while the women went 9-0.
The No. 1 Irish came home with a 13-1 record on the women’s side and 9-4 record for the men’s as they prepare for their first event of the season as hosts this upcoming weekend at the DeCicco Duals. Competition takes place all day Saturday and Sunday as the Irish seek to defend their No. 1 ranking, and Notre Dame will be right back at it the following weekend when they host the Northwestern Duals, also taking place at the Castellan Family Fencing Center.
