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MFC Championship Hosted by Northwestern Evanston, Ill. |
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern capped the 2015 Midwest Fencing Conference Championship with its first epée title since 2002 by defeating Ohio State in thrilling fashion, 5-4.
The Wildcats finished second overall Saturday behind the Ohio State Buckeyes. The two teams met in the final for women's epée, women's sabre and women's foil. NU claimed the epée final, 5-4, but OSU won the sabre event by the same score. The Buckeyes won the foil event, 5-2.
Northwestern, seeded second, cruised to the final in women's foil to start the day. The 'Cats blasted Illinois to start the day, 5-0. Four Northwestern seniors - Katherine Kim, Sarah Bruhl, Mary Spohn and Tina Umanskiy - all picked up victories against the Illini. Wins against Lawrence and Michigan set up the final against Ohio State.
The Buckeyes got off to a 2-0 lead before Jen Yamin got the Wildcats on the board with a 5-4 triumph. Ohio State won the next two bouts before Kaila Budofsky kept the match alive with a 5-2 victory. Yamin fell to 5-2 in the next bout and Ohio State claimed the title, 5-2.
The women's sabre squad, which held the top seed, opened its day with easy wins over Detroit, Michigan State and the Wolverines to set up another meeting against Ohio State in the finale.
The 'Cats jumped on top early with victories by Alisha Gomez-Shah and Cindy Oh. Ohio State won the next three before Oh and Abelsky won in back-to-back fashion to knot the overall score at 4-4. The Buckeyes were able to pull off a 5-1 win in the final bout to claim the gold in sabre.
The final weapon to get rolling Saturday was women's epée. The Wildcats had the top seed once again and they had little trouble with Cleveland State, Michigan State and Purdue to reach the final against Ohio State.
A quick start with wins from Kaitlyn Wallace, Juliana Barrett and Mandeep Bhinder helped NU get out to a 3-0 lead. Barrett won her second bout as well to put Northwestern ahead 4-0, but the Buckeyes would not back down easily. Ohio State won the next four bouts to set up a winner-take-all showdown between Wallace and Mai Shaito.
Wallace defeated Shaito at the NYU Invitational in January to help the Wildcats win and she did it once again in Evanston on Saturday. Wallace scored the final touch in a 4-4 bout to earn NU's first epée title in 13 years.
Northwestern finished second overall Saturday. The team will be back at the Henry Crown Sports Pavilion for the NCAA Midwest Regional on Saturday, March 7.
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