By Pritish BehuriaThe Daily Northwestern
Plagued by injuries and the graduation of two fencers, it looked like a tough season ahead for Northwestern’s sabre squad.
This, however, was not the case for the Wildcats sabreists last weekend. The Haverford Invitational saw senior Mai Vu lead the foil team with a 9-2 record that helped No. 5 Northwestern finish 5-1 for the weekend.
“Mai’s been doing really well,” coach Laurie Schiller said. “(The sabre team) may not have any big names like the Frenches or the Florendos, but they work really hard, and that’s important.”
Despite the imposing lineup of NU’s foil and epee teams, the sabre team has kept up its performances.
Senior Sophie Eustis finished 43rd in the USFA North American Cup earlier this month, while Vu, who finished 18th at the NCAA Championships last year, finished third at the USFA Remenyik Open earlier in the season.
The graduation of Emily Pasternak, the Cats’ top finisher in the sabre section of the NCAA Championships at 16th, was a big gap to fill. Schiller said he expects last year’s substitutes, sophomore Adrienne Shon or junior Gina Annunziato to shoulder the load.
“Emily went to NCAA and is tough to replace,” Schiller said. “But Adrienne and Gina are stepping up and we have some good freshmen like Whitney White and Alice Weinert.”
The sabre team recruited five freshmen to the program this year – all of whom are “are developing really nicely and adapting well,” Eustis said.
The depth of the sabre team already has proven to be vital this season.
With Annunziato’s knee problems and Eustis away on study abroad in Spain last year, the Wildcats were short two important fencers.
“Some of the injuries we’ve had this year have been flukes,” Eustis said. “We just have to work hard on our fitness and conditioning and hope we can avoid any more.”
The Cats added a new sabre coach to their coaching team this season.
Tomas Charette, a former French junior team fencer joined as a volunteer coach. Charette, who lives in Chicago, is a specialist sabre coach.
“(Charette) has brought a change to a lot of strategy and technique to our game,” Eustis said.
The sabre team is definitely the least imposing team on paper for the Cats. It lacks the national experience of the epee team, which boasts freshmen Christa and Kayley French, and the foil team that Schiller said he thinks is the strongest in the United States.
With sophomore foilist Samantha Nemecek ranked fifth and freshman epeeist Christa French ranked eighth in USFA’s senior rankings, the sabre team falls short with no sabreists represented in the top 40.
“Rankings don’t always play out the way they do,” Schiller said. “Ohio State nearly lost to us last night and Grossman may have been considered a weakness on the Bears side last weekend.”
The success of the foil team seems based around seniors Vu and Eustis’ performances.
“In the end, all squads as a whole have to fence well,” Schiller said. “On paper, it doesn’t matter and as they say, ‘That’s why we play the games.'”
Reach Pritish Behuria at [email protected].
