The UNC men’s fencing team was an underdog at the ACC Championships. It's a role the team played played gladly.
At the individual ACC Championships on Feb. 24, no fencer from the men’s team placed on the podium in any weapon. In the end-of-day debrief, head coach Matt Jednak told the team they needed to be more prepared the next day. Jednak said the team normally disperses after these debriefs. But sophomore saber Nicky Wind kept the Tar Heels in the huddle.
Wind told the team they had an opportunity to do something great. Sophomore saber Elden Wood said Wind sounded like Herb Brooks from “Miracle” — a movie based on the U.S. hockey team’s 1980 Olympics upset of the Soviet Union — the way he kept repeating “tonight.” That repetition stuck out to Wood. It signaled that UNC could change its fate.
"I could tell after we broke down again — just the fencers — there was a different energy," Wood said.
Facing a Notre Dame men’s team on Feb. 25 who is the two-time reigning champion of the ACC Championships, the Tar Heels didn’t sulk after setbacks — the team’s collective mindset wouldn’t allow it. It powered UNC to its first men’s fencing ACC title since 1980.
“Everyone bought into that mentality,” Wood said.
UNC and Notre Dame beat Duke and Boston College, so the match between the Tar Heels and the Irish was the title decider. Even as the underdog to the top-seeded Irish, UNC stayed committed to its new energy.
After Wind lost his first bout against the Fighting Irish, he saw Wood sitting down. Wind had told each weapon group to stand and give high fives or applause after each fencer’s bout — win or loss. So even after his own defeat, Wind called Wood out.
When UNC fell down 7-4 to Notre Dame, the team's energy didn’t. On the contrary, as soon as a few points went UNC’s way, the Tar Heels were screaming and cheering. The Irish, meanwhile, had gone quiet.
