Friday, March 20
Notre Dame, Ind.
All Day
Columbia
vs
NCAA Women's Championships Day 2 (Hosted by Notre Dame)
Photo by: Columbia University Athletics / Stockton Photo, Inc.
Women's Fencing Places Second at NCAA Championships
3/20/2026 6:55:00 PM | Fencing
The Lions crowned six All-Americans, finished as runner-up to Notre Dame in team competition
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Columbia women's fencing had all six competitors earn All-America honors and placed second in the team standings to conclude the NCAA Championships on Friday. Notre Dame edged the Lions, 102-99, to claim the national title.
Carolina Stutchbury finished second in women's foil, earning first-team honors for the second consecutive year. Zander Rhodes (foil) and Nicole Xuan (epee) each placed third to join Stutchbury on the first team.
Tamar Gordon placed fifth in sabre to earn second-team honors, while senior Tierna Oxenreider finished sixth in epee for her fourth consecutive top-eight NCAA finish. Oxenreider, who reached the semifinals in each of the last two NCAA Championships, and Rhodes became the sixth and seventh fencers in program history to earn All-America honors in all four seasons.
"Our women put together a tremendous effort these last two days," said head coach Michael Aufrichtig. "If you told us going into NCAAs we'd have 99 bout victories, we would have liked our chances to win the national title, but you have to give credit to Notre Dame for their performance as well. To have all six of our women place in the top-12 is a huge accomplishment, and I'm so proud of all the work they put in to get to this point."
Stutchbury and Rhodes each went 7-1 in Friday's round-robin bouts, improving to 20-3 overall. Stutchbury earned the No. 1 seed via tiebreaker, with Rhodes seeded third entering the semifinals.
In the semifinals, Stutchbury built a 4-0 lead against Harvard's Lucia Zhang before Zhang tied the bout at 5-5. Stutchbury responded by scoring six of the final seven touches to advance to the final.
In the championship bout against Harvard's Guo, Stutchbury used a 4-0 run to take an early lead, but Guo rallied to go ahead 7-5 after the second period and secured the title with a 15-6 victory.
Rhodes led early in her semifinal against Guo, but the eventual champion used a 7-1 run to take control and won, 15-6.
Xuan went 5-3 in the final two round-robin rounds to reach the semifinals at 17-6 overall. She fell to Notre Dame's Eszter Muhari, 15-7, who went on to win her third consecutive NCAA title.
Oxenreider finished 15-8, narrowly missing a third straight semifinal appearance. Gordon went 4-4 in the final two rounds to match her fifth-place finish from last year. Freedman won 11 bouts to place 10th in her NCAA Championships debut.
The men's competition begins Saturday at 9 a.m. with three rounds in each weapon. A live stream is available on FightingIrish.com.
Follow The Lions
For the latest on Columbia's fencing programs, follow @CULionsFencing on X, Instagram and the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.
Carolina Stutchbury finished second in women's foil, earning first-team honors for the second consecutive year. Zander Rhodes (foil) and Nicole Xuan (epee) each placed third to join Stutchbury on the first team.
Tamar Gordon placed fifth in sabre to earn second-team honors, while senior Tierna Oxenreider finished sixth in epee for her fourth consecutive top-eight NCAA finish. Oxenreider, who reached the semifinals in each of the last two NCAA Championships, and Rhodes became the sixth and seventh fencers in program history to earn All-America honors in all four seasons.
"Our women put together a tremendous effort these last two days," said head coach Michael Aufrichtig. "If you told us going into NCAAs we'd have 99 bout victories, we would have liked our chances to win the national title, but you have to give credit to Notre Dame for their performance as well. To have all six of our women place in the top-12 is a huge accomplishment, and I'm so proud of all the work they put in to get to this point."
Stutchbury and Rhodes each went 7-1 in Friday's round-robin bouts, improving to 20-3 overall. Stutchbury earned the No. 1 seed via tiebreaker, with Rhodes seeded third entering the semifinals.
In the semifinals, Stutchbury built a 4-0 lead against Harvard's Lucia Zhang before Zhang tied the bout at 5-5. Stutchbury responded by scoring six of the final seven touches to advance to the final.
In the championship bout against Harvard's Guo, Stutchbury used a 4-0 run to take an early lead, but Guo rallied to go ahead 7-5 after the second period and secured the title with a 15-6 victory.
Rhodes led early in her semifinal against Guo, but the eventual champion used a 7-1 run to take control and won, 15-6.
Xuan went 5-3 in the final two round-robin rounds to reach the semifinals at 17-6 overall. She fell to Notre Dame's Eszter Muhari, 15-7, who went on to win her third consecutive NCAA title.
Oxenreider finished 15-8, narrowly missing a third straight semifinal appearance. Gordon went 4-4 in the final two rounds to match her fifth-place finish from last year. Freedman won 11 bouts to place 10th in her NCAA Championships debut.
The men's competition begins Saturday at 9 a.m. with three rounds in each weapon. A live stream is available on FightingIrish.com.
Follow The Lions
For the latest on Columbia's fencing programs, follow @CULionsFencing on X, Instagram and the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.
Players Mentioned
SABRE
/ Fencing
EPEE
/ Fencing
FOIL
/ Fencing
FOIL
/ Fencing
EPEE
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