It was the revenge of the Irish on Saturday in Columbus, Ohio. Notre Dame recovered from its loss last week to the Wildcats and dominated all three weapons, pummeling NU 23-4 in a match with major implications for the upcoming conference championships.

The Cats also fell to conference rival Ohio State 15-12. The losses will likely prevent the Cats from notching any No. 1 seeds in the conference championships, held March 2-3 in South Bend, Ind.

“We got pounded badly,” assistant coach Ed Kaihatsu said. “It was probably the worst loss I’ve ever seen us take.”

NU head coach Laurie Schiller said no single factor can account for the loss.

“People fenced hard and they tried hard, but we didn’t get many breaks,” Schiller said.

The Cats had an easier time in their two other duals, defeating Wayne State 22-5 and Case Western Reserve 23-4.

But the Cats weren’t interested in discussing the victories.

“You don’t really remember the wins, but you remember exactly the scores when you lost,” team captain Lynn Zuckerman said.

After knocking off the Fighting Irish last weekend in Colorado Springs, Colo., the Cats were confident heading into this weekend’s matchup. The Irish, though, proved to be a far more daunting opponent than last time.

“We had a major letdown,” Kaihatsu said. “Our team felt a little too comfortable after beating them. Notre Dame was coming to rip our throats out. They clearly wanted it more than we did.”

The only NU fencers to post victories were freshman foilist Julie F