The Northwestern fencing team put up some impressive numbers this weekend in the first round of the NU Duals, taking all nine of its matches at Patten Gym and pushing its winning streak to 29 straight.
But it was something the Wildcats did for the first time that had the biggest impact.
NU’s foil team defeated Temple’s foil team for the first time, leading the Cats to their biggest victory of the weekend, a 15-12 win over the Owls.
“I was hoping to get enough bouts out of foil and épée, so sabre could close us,” coach Laurie Schiller said. “Instead foil closed it.”
Early on it appeared the foil team would once again fall to Temple. The Owls paraded out their best fencer, Gina DeIeso, and grabbed a quick lead.
But the Cats hung tough and came back on Temple’s weaker foilists, Jaime Beecher and Stefanie Izzolino.
“They took their chances early, and it didn’t pay off,” assistant coach Ed Kaihatsu said.
NU (14-0) tied the score at 4-4 going into the final match — junior co-captain Kristen Dorf against Temple’s Izzolino.
With the outcome of the match hanging in the balance, Dorf prevailed 5-2.
“I had no problems with it,” said Dorf, who went 15-1. “I was more on for that last bout than I had been for the previous two.”
The win became official when junior épéeist Jennifer Greenebaum gave the Cats their 14th victory. Greenebaum, who went 14-4, had lost her first two bouts against Temple fencers, including one in overtime.
But with the pressure on, she pulled out a 5-1 victory.
Sophomore Kate Rudkin, who finished 16-2, accounted for the final margin of 15-12 with a 5-3 épée victory in the last bout.
After beating Temple, the Cats were able to sail through the rest of Saturday’s matches. They defeated North Carolina 17-10, Florida 20-7 and Fairleigh Dickinson (N.J.) 20-7. Earlier in the day, they beat California State Fullerton 23-4 and James Madison 18-9.
Sunday was more of the same as NU beat Johns Hopkins 21-6, Ohio State 16-11 and Hollins (Va.) 24-3. Only the Buckeyes gave the Cats any trouble.
Ohio State, which NU beat 16-11 earlier this season, went into the match with more holes than a box of Krispy Kremes. Despite missing all three foilists and one sabre fencer, the Buckeyes gave the Cats all they could handle.
In matches it didn’t forfeit, Ohio State went 11-4, including a 6-0 sabre sweep.
“I don’t feel we’re fencing at the highest level yet,” Schiller said. “We didn’t fence them as smart as we could.”
Although they have a few things to work on, the Cats continue to win. They are now 49-1 in their last 50 matches. Only Penn State has defeated NU in that span. The Cats will look to prolong their winning streak in the second round of the NU Duals Jan. 27.
“It’s amazing,” Dorf said. “All our work shows up in those numbers, and that’s what’s neat about it.”
For Dorf and the foil team, that number was zero — the number of matches they lost.
