Jan. 28, 2006
South Bend, Ind. - Northwestern's fencing team went a combined 6-2 on Saturday at the Notre Dame Duals in South Bend, Ind. The Wildcats defeated the University of Chicago (23-4), Wayne State (19-8), Lawrence (27-0), Oberlin (27-0), Detroit-Mercy (25-2) and Cleveland State (25-2). The two losses were to the top two ranked women's fencing teams in the country, Notre Dame (9-18) and Ohio State (13-14).
NU opened the day with five easy wins before facing host team, Notre Dame. NU fell to the reigning National Champions, but the Wildcat foil team defeated the Irish foil team in the process.
"I was pleased with our foil team against Notre Dame," said head coach Laurie Schiller. "They (NU's foil team) lost back in the fall to Notre Dame's foil team, but they showed how much they have improved by winning today."
NU's match vs. No. 2 Ohio State literally came down to the last touch. Trailing early in the dual, NU rallied back to a 13-13 tie with one epée match remaining. With the score tied 4-4 in that final match, OSU tallied the final hit for the 5-4 win of the bout and the 14-13 dual win.
"Today was a good and bad day for us," Schiller said. "The team fought hard, especially the comeback against OSU. I thought we prepared well and did a good job of competing in all of the duals."
NU has one dual match tomorrow vs. Duke at 9 a.m.
Day One Results of Notre Dame Duals
8 a.m. - Chicago 4, Northwestern 23
10 a.m. - Northwestern 19, Wayne State 8
11 a.m. - Northwestern 27, Lawrence 0
Noon - Northwestern 27, Oberlin 0
1 p.m. - Northwestern 25, Detroit-Mercy 2
2 p.m. - Notre Dame 18, Northwestern 9
3 p.m. - Ohio State 14, Northwestern 13
4 p.m. - Northwestern 25, Cleveland State2