By Pritish BehuriaThe Daily Northwestern
It hasn’t been the best season for the No. 5 Wildcats so far. In fact, in terms of dual meet losses, it’s been the worst in four years.
In the past three years, Northwestern had only lost four duals leading up to the Midwest Fencing Conference Championship. This year, the Cats have lost five, with a home dual meet coming up next weekend.
“It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster this season,” senior Jessica Florendo said. “But we’re ready to kick some butt at the JO’s (Junior Olympics) and the duals coming up.”
The losses perhaps do not tell a true story of the Cats season so far. From dominating the UCSD duals to losing three duals at NYU by less than three touches, a 24-5 record doesn’t account for how close some of the matches have been.
“We’ve been very close to winning all of our matches,” NU coach Laurie Schiller said. “We need to keep our focus in a five-touch bout and not give away an easy touch early on. We need to avoid putting ourselves in positions where we need to catch up from.”
With one dual meet to go, NU’s fencers will look to improve their records to climb up the power rankings table.
“Dual meets are the stepping stones to the national championship,” Schiller said. “Winning dual meets is nice but what we do in the championships is what counts.”
The power rankings, decided before the regional championships, establish the seeding in the tournament. The seeding is then worth 40 percent of the final numeric, while the fencer’s performance at the regional championship is worth the other 60 percent.
The top five fencers in each weapon then qualify for the NCAA Championships, with the added stipulation that each school can only have two fencers representing them at the tournament.
Schiller said NU had never had six fencers qualify for the national championships, but had five fencers qualify the last two years. He said six qualifiers would be the aim for this season.
In order to reach that goal and ensure a strong seeding, NU’s fencers will need a strong performance at the next dual meet Feb. 24-25 where they will face No. 1 Penn State, No. 4 Notre Dame and No. 9 Temple.
Schiller has never beaten the Nittany Lions in his career and said he is hoping the team would step up and beat some ranked teams next weekend.
The young Cats have been impressive this season, with freshmen sisters Christa and Kayley French leading the epee team with a combined record of 76-20.
Classmate Joanna Niklinska has not been far behind with a 26-3 record this season.
With three freshmen as regular starters, the team was inexperienced with regard to the college format.
“They’re getting used to it now and getting better every week,” Schiller said. “In the college format, losing one touch can mean losing a bout which can mean your team loses a dual.”
The final dual of the season would be important to the success of the season and the Cats will have to replace the close losses with wins.
This weekend sophomore Sam Nemecek and the freshmen twins will lead the younger part of the squad at the USFA Junior Olympics in Denver.
“The team really needs to buck up,” Florendo said. “It’s an issue of confidence and showing the mental strength we know we have.”
Reach Pritish Behuria at [email protected].
