Lions Remain in Third Place After Day Two at NCAAs

Photo by: Ricky Bassman

Lions Remain in Third Place After Day Two at NCAAs

3/25/2022 6:11:00 PM | Fencing

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Nora Burke (women’s sabre) and Sylvie Binder (women’s foil) advance to semifinals, both finish in third place, Zander Rhodes finishes fifth in women’s foil; Lions maintain third place at the halfway point; Men’s competition begins Saturday morning.

SOUTH BEND, Ind.—Junior Nora Burke (women's sabre) and senior Sylvie Binder (women's foil) both finished in third place after advancing to the semifinal round as Columbia-Barnard remained in third place in the team competition after the second day of NCAA Fencing Championships Friday at Notre Dame's Castellan Family Fencing Center in South Bend. Two more days of competition remains as the men's bouts begin tomorrow morning.

Columbia finished its second straight day and the women's portion of the NCAA Championships in third place with 83 points. Notre Dame remains in the first place with 102 points, while Princeton is in second with 90, Columbia-Barnard is third with 83, and Ohio State is fourth with 79.

The men's competition begins on Saturday at 9 a.m. as six Lions—Josef Cohen (sabre), Ashton Daniel (foil), Justin Haddad (epee), Sidarth Kumbla (foil), Teddy Lombardo (epee), and Christopher Walker (sabre)—will take to the strip. Fans can follow along with live results from the NCAA Championships at this link. A live feed of every strip is available at this link. Sunday's men's semifinals and finals can be watched live on ESPN+ at this link.

Friday's competition saw a valiant come-from-behind effort by Binder as she worked her way back into semifinal contention. With several key wins, she battled back from sixth place to finish fourth and earn a berth into the semifinal round. With a 17-6 record and plus-35 differential, she advanced to the semifinal by one touch over first-year teammate Zander Rhodes, who also finished 17-6, but with a +34 differential. In the semifinal matchup, Binder dropped a 15-9 decision to Princeton's Maia Weintraub, the No. 1 seed and eventual national champion. In the semifinal bout, Binder took a quick 3-1 lead, but Weintraub followed with four straight points to go up 5-3 and the two exchanged points until Weintraub held a 10-9 advantage. But Weintraub scored the bout's final six points for the win.

With the performance, Binder earns her third career First Team All-America honor. She concludes her career as one of the most decorated fencers in Columbia history as she captured the 2019 individual national title and finished in third place with the Bronze Medal in both 2018 and now 2022, earned three NCAA Northeast Regional medals and is a three-time All-Ivy League honoree.

After a Thursday performance that saw Burke ascend to the top of the sabre competition, she concluded rounds 4 and 5 in a tie for first place atop the leaderboard with a 20-3 overall record. That advanced her into a semifinal bout against Notre Dame's Atara Greenbaum. Against Greenbaum, Burke jumped out to leads of 6-4, 8-6 and 10-8 until Greenbaum tied it at 10-10. Greenbaum won five of the last six points for a 15-11 win. With the third place finish, Burke earned First Team All-America honors and is now a two-time All-American.

Rhodes also put together an outstanding effort as she finished fifth in women's foil and earned Second Team All-America honors. The first-year ended day one in first place but found herself in highly competitive women's foil field as the top six fencers finished with 17-6 or better records.

Sophomore Vera Kong finished the two-day competition in 12^th place with a 12-11 women's sabre record. She was in seventh place after day one.

Senior Valentina Bos finished in 14^th place in women's epee with a 10-13 record and junior Ariana Mangano took 23^rd place in epee at 7-16. Bos won her final four matches.

For the four-day event, Columbia qualified the NCAA maximum number of 12 fencers. The NCAA Championship features fencers from 27 different schools, while Columbia is one of four schools with the maximum 12 fencers competing: Notre Dame, Princeton, and Ohio State.

Fans unable to attend the event can watch the semifinal bouts, championship bouts and award ceremonies live on ESPN+ (Women's Broadcast: Friday, March 25, 1-5 p.m. ET; Men's Broadcast: Sunday, March 27, 1-5 p.m. ET). Cary Collins will handle production, while Tony Simeone and David Willette will handle play-by-play duties. A complete edited NCAA Championship recap will premiere on live national television on ESPNU on Thursday, April 7 at 1:30 p.m. ET.

COLUMBIA AT THE 2022 NCAA FENCING CHAMPIONSHIPS
March 24-27, 2022 | South Bend, Ind. | Castellan Family Fencing Center

DAY TWO RESULTS (Friday, March 25, 2022)

Team Standings
1. Notre Dame, 102
2. Princeton, 90
3. Columbia-Barnard, 83
4. Ohio State, 79
5. Harvard, 76
6. Penn State, 65
7. Penn, 44
8. Yale, 40
9. Cornell, 37
10. Northwestern 33
11. St. John's, 30
12. Duke, 26
11 others schools with 17 or less

Women's Epee
Valentina Bos (finished in 14^th place/24 fencers, 10-13)
First Round: 2-5; Second Round: 0-4; Third Round: 2-2; Overall: 4-11 (-13), 21^st place
Fourth Round: 2-2; Fifth Round: 4-0; Final Record: 10-13 (+1)

Ariana Mangano (finished in 23^rd place/24 fencers, 7-16)
First Round: 2-5; Second Round: 1-3; Third Round: 1-3; Overall: 4-11 (-16), 22^nd place
Fourth Round: 1-3; Fifth Round: 2-2; Final Record: 7-16 (-26)

Women's Foil
Sylvie Binder (finished T-3^rd place/24 fencers, 17-6)
First Round: 4-3; Second Round: 3-1; Third Round: 4-0; Overall: 11-4 (+17), 6^th place
Fourth Round: 3-1; Fifth Round: 3-1; Final Record: 17-6 (+35)
Semifinal: No. 4 seed, lost 15-9 to No. 1 seed Maia Weintraub, Princeton

Zander Rhodes (finished in 5^th place/24 fencers, 17-6)
First Round: 7-0; Second Round: 2-2; Third Round: 4-0; Overall: 13-2 (+31), 1^st place
Fourth Round: 2-2; Fifth Round: 2-2; Final Record: 17-6 (+34)

Women's Sabre
Nora Burke (finished T-3^rd place/24 fencers, 20-3)
First Round: 7-0; Second Round: 3-1; Third Round: 4-0; Overall: 14-1 (+34), 1^st place
Fourth Round: 3-1; Fifth Round: 3-1; Final Record: 20-3 (+37), T-1^st place
Semifinal: No. 2 seed, lost 15-11 to No. 3 seed Atara Greenbuam, Notre Dame

Vera Kong (finished in 12^th place/24 fencers, 12-11)
First Round: 5-2; Second Round: 2-2: Third Round: 2-2; Overall: 9-6 (+3), 7^th place
Fourth Round: 2-2; Fifth Round: 1-3; Final Record: 12-11 (+4), 12^th place