Fencing
Fencing wins individual and team ACC Championships
Annika Herko | Monday, February 27, 2023
We’re still a fencing school.
This weekend, the Notre Dame fencing team traveled to Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts (home of Boston College) to compete in the ACC Championships. Two other schools traveled to compete against the No. 1 ranked Irish team, Duke and North Carolina. Like a traditional meet, the first day consisted of individual competitions and the second was for team competitions.
For individual competitions, the Irish won first in every category. In women’s epee, junior and defending national champion Kaylin Hsieh took gold, while freshman Eszter Muhari finished third. Graduate student Miriam Grady and freshman Michaela Joyce finished fourth and fifth, respectively, out of 14 competitors. In women’s foil, sophomore Nicole Pustilnik finished first with junior Karina Yaroshenko, senior Paige Luong and senior Tianji Lukins finishing fourth, fifth and eighth out of fourteen. Notre Dame swept in women’s sabre graduate Kara Linder, sophomore Jadeyn Williams and junior Atara Greenbaum took gold, silver and bronze. Neve Harrison also competed, finishing 14th out of 16 competitors.
The men’s team was just as dominant. For epee, freshman Maruan Osman-Touson placed first and freshmen Jonathan Hamilton-Meikle and Noah Silvers finished fourth and sixth out of sixteen. In foil, sophomore Philip Dority took gold with freshman Paulo Morais, freshman Jack Oursler and freshman Jason Zhao finishing fourth, seventh and tenth out of sixteen competitors. And, in sabre, junior Luke Linder and senior George Bivins took gold and bronze for Notre Dame. Sophomore Henry Nadile and junior Sean Moon finished eighth and tenth out of sixteen.
On Sunday, the team championships began, with the women competing first. In the first match, the Irish beat No. 4 Boston College 24-3. The Irish swept in epee with junior Amanda Pirkowski and Michaela Joyce each going 5-0 in one set. In foil, the Irish went 8-1 with Luong going 5-0 in a set. Finally, in sabre, the team went 7-2 with Greenbaum going undefeated in a set.
Carrying that momentum into their match against No. 3 North Carolina, the Irish went 20-7 overall. They went 6-3 in Epee and Foil, and 8-1 in Sabre. Greenbaum and Rebeca Candescu both went 5-0 in their sets. In their final match against No. 2 Duke, Notre Dame went 19-8. They went 6-3 in epee, 7-2 in foil and 6-3 saber. Luong went 5-0 in one of her sets in foil.
The men’s team started out by beating No. 4 Duke 18-9. They went 7-2 in epee, 8-1 in foil and 3-6 in sabre. Against No. 3 Boston College, Notre Dame went 21-6 overall, going 7-2 in epee, 5-4 in foil, and sweeping in sabre. Bivins went 5-0 in one of his sets in sabre. Finally, against No. 2 North Carolina, the Irish went 8-1 in epee, 7-2 in foil, and 7-2 in sabre. Hamilton-Melke and Dority each went 5-0 in one of their sets.
The Irish will move on to the NCAA Midwest Regional Competition on March 11 in Evanston, Illinois.
