COLUMBUS, Ohio – Rebeca Candescu secured a place in the semifinal knockout round in women’s foil and tied for third to earn bronze at the 2024 NCAA Championships held at Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio.
At the midway point of the championships, the Fighting Irish are currently in third place with 73 points, trailing Harvard (87) and Columbia/Barnard (81).
Notre Dame closed out the women’s portion of nationals with three top-10 finishers combined in sabre and foil with Candescu’s third place finish leading the way. The two sabre competitors in Atara Greenbaum and Jadeyn Williams each notched top-10 performances, finishing fifth and ninth, respectively.
WOMEN’S FOIL
Rebeca Candescu went 5-3 on day two of the round robin portion of competition, qualifying her in fourth place for the semifinals with an overall record of 15-8. Candescu fell to the top-seeded Jessica Guo (Harvard) in the semifinals by a score of 15-7. Teammate Josephina Conway turned in a record of 4-4 on Friday to total 11 wins for the championships, finishing 13th.
WOMEN’S SABRE
The Fighting Irish nearly sent a second fencer to the semifinals on Friday, as Greenbaum finished fifth overall in sabre, just one place out of the knockout rounds. Greenbaum turned in a record of 4-4 on her final day of competition, moving her round-robin record to 14-9 overall. Williams had a notable day as well in sabre, going 5-3 to earn a ninth place finish after going 13-10 for the championships.
WOMEN’S FOIL
Amanda Pirkowski and Michaela Joyce also wrapped up their two-day championships in foil, placing 16th and 18th, respectively. Both Pirkowski and Joyce notched 10 wins over the two-day round robin competition.
STANDINGS
Epee
16. Amanda Pirkowski, 10-13 (-5)
18.Michaela Joyce, 10-13 (-9)
Foil
4. Rebeca Candescu, 15-8 (+31)
13. Josephina Conway, 11-12 (-1)
Sabre
5. Atara Greenbaum, 14-9 (+14)
9. Jadeyn Williams, 13-10 (+15)
TEAM STANDINGS
- Harvard (87)
- Columbia/Barnard (81)
- Notre Dame (73)
- Princeton (64)
- St. John’s (60)
UP NEXT
The men will take to the strip for their turn to fence for the national championship. They will fence the first three rounds of round-robin competition on Saturday and then move to Sunday for the final two rounds of round-robin competition. After the two rounds are completed on Sunday, the top-four finishers will advance to the semifinals starting at 1:30 p.m. ET in the afternoon.