Chloe Grainger is 14-0 in dual competition 2012.Chloe Grainger is 14-0 in dual competition 2012.

Wildcats Will Face Top Competition in Philadelphia and New York City

Jan. 19, 2012

Northwestern (6-0) at Philadelphia Invitational
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Hutchinson Gym
Philadelphia, Pa. • 8 a.m. CST
Philadelphia Invite Schedule Get Acrobat Reader

Northwestern (6-0) at NYU Invitational
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Coles Sports Center
New York, N.Y. • 7 a.m. CST
NYU Invitational Schedule Get Acrobat Reader

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern's women's fencing team will embark upon one of the most important weekends of the season on Saturday and Sunday when it travels east for a pair of invitational meets against some of the top competition from around the country. The 'Cats will participate in Saturday's Philadelphia Invitational and Sunday's NYU Invitational this weekend.

The Wildcats enter competition this weekend ranked No. 4 in the country by CollegeFencing360.com and this weekend will face four other teams in the top-10 and five more that received votes in the first edition of the poll, which was released on Wednesday. Northwestern will square off against No. 8 Temple, No. 9 Penn, (ARV) Cornell and (ARV) North Carolina at the Philadelphia Invitational. Drew University and NJIT round out the field for the season's second dual meet. In 2011 NU swept the competition, going a perfect 6-0 at the Philadelphia Invitational.

Sunday's NYU Invitational also features an extremely deep field. The 'Cats will bout with No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 6 Ohio State, (ARV) Columbia, (ARV) Yale, (ARV) NYU and Wayne State at the Coles Sports Center. Last year in New York City, Northwestern posted a 4-2 record with the only losses coming against then-No. 1 Notre Dame, 11-16, and then-No. 10 Ohio State, 13-14.

Head coach Laurie Schiller's squads opened the 2012 campaign in fine fashion by capturing the Western Invitational championship on January 7. Northwestern outscored its six opponents that day by a combined score of 153-9. Five Wildcats went undefeated throughout the duration of the day. Epéeists Kate Cavanaugh (Milwaukee, Wis./Nicolet) and Courtney Dumas (Cleveland, Ohio/Hathaway Brown) combined to go 26-0; foilists Devynn Patterson (Seattle, Wash./Roosevelt) and Dayana Sarkisova (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central) were a combined 27-0; Chloe Grainger (Decatur, Ga./Decatur) was undefeated in sabre competition, posting a record of 14-0.

Complete schedules for both the Philadelphia Invitational and NYU Invitational can be found at the top of the page. Northwestern's first dual on Saturday in Philadelphia is set for 9:15 a.m. CST. Competition on Sunday begins versus Columbia at 7 a.m. CST.

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