Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com MAY 2019 57 ND SPORTS the Northern Indiana campus this Southern California girl has grown to love, at least March through No- vember. "It's made me appreciate my weather back home much more," Brooks said with a laugh. "Coach Gumpf explains to recruits very well, 'Indiana winters are like traffic: you just deal with it.'" FENCERS FINISH THIRD IN NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP The powerful Notre Dame fenc- ing program couldn't quite achieve a three-peat with a team national cham- pionship March 21-24 at Cleveland State's Wolstein Center, but it was well represented again with seven All-Americans. Head coach Gia Kvaratskhelia's squad comprised of foil, sabre and epee finished with 165 points, which was third behind Columbia (178) and runner-up Penn State (166). Since 1977, the Fighting Irish have captured 10 national titles in the sport, with women's soccer (three), women's basketball (two) and football (two) the others to win multiple championships during that span. Headlining another stellar effort on the men's side was sophomore foil Nick Itkin winning his second con- secutive individual national title — this time over senior teammate Axel Kiefer. "The first time was a lot less pres- sure," Itkin said. "Coming back, there's an extra chip on the shoulder … everyone's going to be expecting me to do the same. At the begin- ning was tough for me to fence, but I started finding my groove, thinking about fencing and not trying to prove anything. "So much credit to Axel. He fenced an amazing tournament, beat a re- ally good fencer in the semifinal in an incredible bout. He's a senior and I've learned so much from him, and it was incredible to be able to fence him in the finals. I have so much respect for him." In the last two days of the event, the Fighting Irish women added their own medalists when senior Amanda Sirico won the silver in the epee, while freshman Amita Berthier captured the bronze in foil. Gold, silver and bronze medalists are all accorded first-team All-America notice. Also earning All-America accolades were senior foil Sabrina Massialas (fifth place for second-team honors), freshman sabre Kara Linder (eighth place, second team) and senior sabre Tara Hassett (11th place, third team). Notre Dame swept the ACC Fencer of the Year awards, with Kvaratskhe- lia garnering Men's and Women's Coach of the Year honors, as voted on by the league's head coaches. Itkin was named the ACC Fencer of the Year for men's foil, reigning ACC champion and freshman Mal- colm Fields earned Fencer of the Year in men's sabre, and sophomore and NCAA qualifier Stephen Ewart cap- tured Fencer of the Year in men's epee. Sirico was ACC Fencer of the Year in women's epee, while Berthier and Linder achieved the same in women's foil and women's sabre, respectively. — Lou Somogyi Sophomore Nick Itkin captured his second con- secutive individual national title in the foil by defeating senior teammate Axel Kiefer. PHOTO COURTESY FIGHTING IRISH MEDIA Irish Roundup Through April 14 BASEBALL (13-21, 8-10 ACC) After opening up a three-game series against Virginia with a 5-2 win April 5, Notre Dame lost its next six games, all at home — two to Virginia, one each against Michigan State and Western Michigan, and two to North Carolina — before snapping the skid with a 4-3 win over the Tar Heels April 13. The Fighting Irish close out the month of April with games versus Northwestern April 16, at Pittsburgh April 19-21, against Valparaiso April 23, versus North Carolina State April 26-28 and versus UIC April 30. The regular season concludes with three-game home series versus Louisville May 3-5 and Canisius May 11-12, plus road tilts against Northwestern May 14 and Boston College May 16-18. The ACC Tourna- ment starts May 21 in Durham, N.C. MEN'S LACROSSE (6-5, 1-2 ACC) The No. 12-ranked Fighting Irish have lost four of their last seven contests, with wins over Michigan (12-9), Syracuse (13-10) and Marquette (13-6), and losses to Virginia (13-11), Ohio State (11-10, OT), Duke (14-8) and Cornell (11-9). Notre Dame concludes the regular season with a home match against North Carolina April 20. The ACC Tournament begins play April 25. WOMEN'S LACROSSE (13-2, 5-2 ACC) No. 4 Notre Dame extended its season-opening win streak to nine games before losing two of three versus top-five foes. After falling 10-9 at Syracuse March 24, the Irish topped North Carolina 9-7 at home March 13 and then lost 13-9 at top-ranked Boston College. They then rebounded with wins against Virginia Tech (15-13) April 7, Butler (20-1) April 10 and at Duke (15-7) April 14. The Irish wrap up the regular season versus Northwestern April 20. The ACC Tournament begins play with the quarterfinals April 24. SOFTBALL (26-14, 9-6 ACC) The Fighting Irish won six of their first eight games in the month of April, opening with an 8-0 victory over IUPUI April 2 and following with a three-game sweep of Boston College (11-0, 9-3, 7-2) April 5-7. After falling 3-1 at Northwestern April 9, they took two of three from North Carolina State — sandwich- ing a 9-4 loss with 11-2 and 12-3 victories. Notre Dame finishes out the month with seven road contests, one at Purdue April 16, three at Virginia April 19-20 and three at Pittsburgh April 27-29. The regular season then concludes with home games versus Detroit Mercy May 1 and Georgia Tech May 3-5. The ACC Championship takes place May 8-11 in Tallahassee, Fla. — David McKinney