Jan. 31, 2009
Northwestern Duals Results - Day One 
EVANSTON, Ill. -- The sixth-ranked Wildcats, for the most part, had a successful opening day to the NU Duals, posting a 4-2 record through the first six rounds of competition at the Sports and Aquatic Center (SPAC) on the Northwestern campus. NU upped it's overall record to 22-5 on the year, and now prepares for the second day of action Sunday morning.
Before the beginning of competition, head coach Laurie Schiller took a few moments to honor Sam Nemecek (Caledonia, Mich./Caledonia), Megan Ross (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel Area) and Adrienne Shon (San Diego, Calif./The Bishop's School), the three NU seniors competing in the final home meets of their careers. The Wildcats then opened up the day with a convincing 25-2 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson, which included perfect 9-0 records from both the epée and foil teams, then followed that up with a hard-fought 15-12 win over North Carolina.
NU then faced its hardest back-to-back draw of the tournament, meeting up with third-ranked Ohio State before facing top-ranked Penn State. Despite valiant efforts, the Wildcats dropped both matches, falling 18-9 to the Buckeyes and 20-7 to the Nittany Lions. Northwestern would respond in the final two matches of the day, breezing past conference opponents Cleveland State 25-2 and Lawrence 23-4.
Nemecek continued to inch closer to the program's all-time wins mark, going 9-2 on the day to move into sole possession of third-place on the Wildcats' all-time wins chart with an overall record of 370-63. She now trails only Jessica Florendo (410 wins) and Julia Földi (386) in the record books. Junior Christa French (Southlake, Texas/Carroll) led the epée squad with a 5-4 record on the day, while sophomore Jill Mahen (Chester, N.J./Mendham) led the sabres at 6-3.
The Wildcats return to the strips bright and early Sunday morning, starting the day against conference opponent Detroit-Mercy at 8 a.m., before facing another conference foe in Wayne State in the second round. NU then goes head-to-head with another pair of ranked opponents, meeting up with second-ranked Notre Dame and eighth-ranked Temple in the third and fourth round respectively before closing out the tournament with Johns Hopkins. The duals are being held on the basketball courts at SPAC and are free to the public.
Northwestern Duals Results - Day One
Northwestern 25, Fairleigh Dickinson 2
Epée: 9-0
Foil: 7-2
Sabre: 9-0
Northwestern 15, North Carolina 12
Epée: 6-3
Foil: 6-3
Sabre: 3-6
Ohio State 18, Northwestern 9
Epée: 6-3
Foil: 2-7
Sabre: 1-8
Penn State 20, Northwestern 7
Epée: 0-9
Foil: 5-4
Sabre: 2-7
Northwestern 25, Cleveland State 2
Epée: 7-2
Foil: 9-0
Sabre: 9-0
Northwestern 23, Lawrence 4
Epée: 8-1
Foil: 6-3
Sabre: 9-0