By Pritish BehuriaThe Daily Northwestern

Despite the celebrations and a drenched Northwestern coach Laurie Schiller, the Wildcats left the NYU duals with mixed feelings this weekend.

Schiller was the victim of an unexpected celebration after the third dual with Yale. His team commemorated the 900th career-win by emptying a bucket of water on him.

Schiller said it was nice to reach the milestone but had mixed feelings.

The weekend saw the No. 5 Wildcats finish 2-4 against a field that comprised five of the top seven teams in the country. Three of Northwestern’s four defeats were by three touches or less, with losses to No. 4 Notre Dame and t-No. 6 Ohio State decided with the decisive touch.

“We handled two teams very well and lost two matches narrowly,” Schiller said. “If we did it again tomorrow, I think results could be different.”

The closely-fought defeats against the Fighting Irish and the Buckeyes were a difficult pill to swallow for the Cats. NU’s young fencers could not battle it out under pressure for the win, but Schiller said the team would be better for the experience.

“They were quite literally overtime bouts and there was intense pressure on the fencers,” Schiller said. “Dual meets are eventually steps forward to the championship and you’ll see that we won’t lose many the rest of the year.”