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NYU Invitational Hosted by New York University Jersey City, N.J. |
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JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- Northwestern added four more wins to its weekend total Sunday at the NYU Invitational to bring their total to seven victories during a busy stretch of fencing against top-ranked foes on the east coast.
The highlight of the day came for NU during round four when it took down fifth-ranked Ohio State in thrilling fashion. Before battling the Buckeyes, the Wildcats had other top-ranked teams to fence.
After picking up three wins Saturday at the Philadelphia Invitational, the 'Cats were up and at 'em early at the Cobra Fencing Club in Jersey City, N.J. Northwestern's first opponent was third-ranked Columbia. NU's sabre squad won six-of-nine bouts against the Lions, but its foil and epée squads came out on the short end and the Wildcats fell, 16-11.
Northwestern's three sabre fencers - Julia Abelsky, Alisha Gomez-Shah and Cindy Oh - each went 2-1 to start the day.
Head coach Laurie Schiller and the Wildcats shook off the early defeat and roared back to knock off another Ivy League opponent, Yale, in round two. The 'Cats clobbered the Bulldogs, in fact, 21-6. Each weapon group notched seven wins. Oh continued to compete hard, posting wins in all three of her second-round bouts. Jen Yamin went unbeaten in her three foil matches, while Kaitlyn Wallace and Anna Tolley both posted three wins in epée.
The Wildcats were paired up with the nation's top-ranked team, Notre Dame, in the third round. The Fighting Irish won the sabre and epée match-ups, 6-3, and foil, 5-4. Wallace was one of the top performers against UND, winning all three of her bouts, while Gomez-Shah went 2-1 once again.
The schedule did Northwestern no favors by pitting it against another top-5 foe, Ohio State, in round four. The teams split the first 26 bouts down the middle with each side winning 13 to set up an epic showdown in epée between Wallace and OSU's Maj Shaito. Wallace prevailed, 5-1, to win her ninth consecutive bout and claim the victory for the 'Cats. Northwestern won six bouts in epée, five in sabre and three in foil to accumulate the necessary points to win.
In addition to Wallace's 3-0 performance, Mandeep Bhinder (epée) won twice, as did Gomez-Shah and Oh in sabre.
Fueled by the big victory over the Buckeyes, Northwestern handled Wayne State by a final score 19-8. The epée squad did the heavy lifting yet again, winning eight-of-nine bouts. Juliana Barrett and Tolley both won all three bouts. Abelsky and Oh went unbeaten in three bouts for the sabre squad, while Stephanie Chan added two foil wins for the Wildcats.
The 'Cats put an exclamation point on the day by blanking the host school, NYU, 27-0. Ania Parzecki (sabre), Charlotte Sands and Mary Spohn (foil) and Helen Foeter (epée) each posted their first clean sweeps of the day. In addition, Wallace won three more times to run her winning streak to 12 after she rested against Wayne State.
Northwestern improved to 26-4 overall on the season with its 4-2 record at the NYU Invitational.
The Wildcats will be back in Evanston next weekend to host the NU Duals at the Henry Crown Sports Pavilion on January 31 - February 1. Schiller's squads will welcome 15 other squads from around the nation including several they faced this weekend including Penn, Ohio State, Notre Dame and Temple. In addition, Northwestern will go toe-to-toe with Princeton, North Carolina, Stanford and more. Fencing begins at 8 a.m. each day and admission is free.
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