NATIONAL COLLEGIATE MEN’S AND WOMEN’S FENCING CHAMPIONSHIPS RECORDS BOOK 2017 Championship 2 History 4 All-Time Team Results 8 2017 CHAMPIONSHIP HIGHLIGHTS Notre Dame wins ninth national championship: The University of Notre How It Happened - Foil Dame fencing program clinched its ninth national title on Sunday, capping four Kiefer moved on to the semifinals in foil, finishing 20-3 in the five rounds of days of dominance at the 2017 National Collegiate Fencing Championships at bouts and 8-0 on Saturday. the Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis, Indiana. Sophomore Sabrina Massialas faced some hard luck in the final standings, The Fighting Irish clinched the championship in the fourth round with a 5-1 win however. Finishing with a 19-4 record, Massialas matched Ohio State’s by senior Lee Kiefer over Cornell’s Lyubov Kiriakidi on the foil strip. Eleanor Harvey and Alanna Goldie in overall record, but ended up in fifth place on indicators (49) to Harvey (58). Kiefer kept the historical moments coming later in the day, taking her fourth foil individual title and becoming just the third collegiate fencer to earn four Kiefer matched up Harvey for the second foil semifinal, looking to rebound weapon titles. NYU’s Michael Lofton won four sabre titles from 1984 through from a 2-5 loss in the preliminaries. The early portion of the bout was even, 1987 and Penn State’s Olga Kalinovskaya won four consecutive foil titles from with Kiefer jumping out to a 3-0 lead only to see Harvey score three consecu- 1993 to 1996. tive points. It is the first national team title for the Irish since 2011, when the Irish tallied Kiefer took a 4-3 lead into the first break, then fell behind 5-6 when Harvey 174 points to defeat Penn State (168) and St. John’s (155). It is also the first scored three straight points. It was at that point, however, when the world’s national title as head coach for Gia Kvaratskhelia, who was an assistant No. 1 FIE ranked foilist decided to seize control of the bout. The Versaille, coach on Janusz Bednarski’s staff during the 2011 title run. Kentucky native ripped off eight consecutive unanswered points for an insur- mountable 13-7 lead at the final break. Kiefer then ended the match with two Notre Dame’s final total of 186 points are the most for the Irish in a title victory quick points to set up a championship bout with Ohio State’s Alanna Goldie. and the most for a winning team since Penn State’s 191 total in 2010. In that championship bout, Kiefer took control early by scoring five of the first How It Happened - Sabre six points. Goldie regained her footing and the two fencers traded two-point While Kiefer clinched the title in the fourth round of foil on Sunday, sabre was streaks until 30 seconds before the first break. the first weapon to finish up its five preliminary rounds. Junior Francesca Russo put herself in position for a second individual national title by finishing Kiefer had an 8-5 lead but the match was interrupted when the pipe and pool play ranked first with a 20-3 record. drape background behind the championship strip fell toward the competition strip. No one was was hurt, but the match was delayed for approximately 10 Sophomore Tara Hassett finished 15th in the final sabre rankings with an minutes while the stage was reset. 11-12 record. After that break Kiefer increased her lead by one point during the second Russo was matched up with St. John’s Mathilda Taharo in the first sabre three minutes and entered the final period with an 11-7 advantage. semifinal, whom she bested 5-2 in the preliminaries. After a back-and-forth start to the bout, Russo took control with three consecutive points to build a With four titles in her sight Kiefer wasted little time taking control after the 4-3 lead. Taharo matched with two points to take the lead briefly back, but break. Three straight points put the championship in reach as her teammates Russo answered to score four of the next five points and own an 8-6 lead at gathered around the strip in anticipation of victory, which Kiefer earned with the break. a 15-9 win. The second part of the bout was a one-sided affair, as Russo closed out “I’m at a loss of words,” Kiefer said right after the match. “This has been a Taharo by scoring six of the final eight points for a 15-9 victory and a spot in goal for this whole season. This is an amazing team and I am so proud of the championship round against Penn State’s Teodora Kakhiani. everything that they have done and this is just icing on the cake. It feels so good. We have been so close so many times, but we have been a strong Russo and Kakhiani ended the championship with a dramatic and thrilling team and worked so well together.” bout. After falling behind 0-2, Russo evened the match at 2-2 and the two competitors then battled back and forth throughout the rest of the match. After How It Happened - Epee the break, Russo and Kakhiani traded two-point scoring streaks with Russo Sophomore Amanda Sirico was the third semifinalist for the Irish, giving the evening the match 9-9 on a replay appeal. national champions one for each weapon on the day. Sircio finished the preliminaries with a 20-3 record and matched Keifer’s unbeaten record on Russo edged ahead 10-9, but Kakhiani came right back to score two in a Sunday with an 8-0 record over the final two rounds. row, including an unusual point where she lost her footing at the very far end of the strip. Russo missed a score and Kakhiani would take advantage to go Sophomore Madeline Antekeier matched her 14th place finish from a year up 11-10. ago in her second consecutive NCAA epee appearance and finished with a 10-13 record. Kakhiani would eventually take a 14-13 lead and reach match point. Russo buckled down and quickly evened the match on a quick strike to bring up Sirico faced Princeton’s Anna Van Brummen in the second epee semifinal. the dramatic final point. Kakhiani attacked and Russo took a step back and Van Brummen had earned a 3-1 victory when both fencers met in the prelimi- stumbled. Before Kakhiani could take the advantage, Russo recovered and nary rounds. Like most matches in the national semifinals, the fencers were tapped her on the shoulder to claim her second national championship. even at the start, with Van Brummen earning the first point, then Sirico scoring before two matching points moved the score to 3-3 at the first break. “It was a crazy bout,” Russo said after the victory. “Teodora is so good with her defense and her attack is so quick. I was really trying to work on my Van Brummen took control in the second round, outscoring Sirico 7-5 and defense but I was struggling at times. Sabre is a mind game and a roller boasting a 10-8 lead into the final three minutes. Two quick points from Van coaster.” Brummen pushed her lead to four points and an eventual 15-10 victory. Sirico caps her first NCAA Championship appearance in a tie for third place and first-team All-America honors. 2017 Championship 2 2017 TEAM School V-B School V-B 22. Adam Green, Pennsylvania 6-17 17. Matthew Branman, Harvard 10-13 STANDINGS 23. Jeffrey Dalli, Stanford 6-17 18. Sean Grant, NYU 10-13 24. Quinten Burgunder, NYU 6-17 19. Samuel Barmann, Princeton 8-15 School Score Semifinals 20. Umar Masood, Brown 7-16 1. Notre Dame 186 Dershwitz def. Natanzon, 15-6 21. Aiden Ahn, Yale 7-16 2. Ohio St. 161 Elsissy def. Arfa, 15-7 22. Simon Rizell, NJIT 5-18 3. Columbia 152 Championship 23. Algird Szumlas, Detroit Mercy 3-20 4. Princeton 145 Dershwitz def. Elisissy, 15-10 24. Darren Mei, Stanford 1-22 5. Harvard 124 Men’s Épee Semifinals 6. St. John's (NY) 119 Scruggs def. Chastanet, 15-14 7. Penn St. 118 Round-Robin Standings Nemeth def. Massialas, 15-13 8. Penn 107 School V-B Championship 9. Duke 82 Nemeth def. Scruggs, 15-9 1. Cooper Schumacher, St. John's 17-6 10. Stanford 78 (NY) 11. NYU 67 Women’s Sabre 2. Justin Yoo, Penn 15-8 12. Yale 63 3. Wesley Johnson, Princeton 15-8 Round-Robin Standings 13. Wayne St. (MI) 54 4. Ariel Simmons, Notre Dame 15-8 School V-B 14. UC San Diego 28 5. Lewis Weiss, Ohio St. 14-9 1. Francesca Russo, Notre Dame 20-3 15. Cornell 25 6. Yevgeniy Karyuchenko, St. John's (NY) 14-9 2. Maia Chamberlain, Princeton 19-4 16. NJIT 23 7. Albert Chien, Harvard 14-9 3. Teodora Kakhiani, Penn St. 17-6 17. Temple 20 8. Michael Popovici, Princeton 13-10 4. Mathilda Taharo, St. John's (NY) 16-7 18. Boston College 16 9. Marc-Antoine Blais, Ohio St. 13-10 5. Sarah Merza, Ohio St. 15-8 19. Northwestern 16 10. Bryn Hammarberg, Duke 13-10 6. Adrienne Jarocki, Harvard 15-8 20. Incarnate Word 14 11. Anton Piskovatskov, Penn St. 12-11 7. Patrycja Palczynska, Wayne St. (MI) 14-9 21. Fairleigh Dickinson 12 12. Gabe Canaux, Columbia 12-11 8.