Northwestern went a combined 10-2 at the NYU and Philadelphia Invitationals last weekend, posting a 4-2 record on Saturday before running the table on Sunday.
Still, it was not enough for the Wildcats. At the conclusion of the meets, the team maintained that the two losses, tightly contested bouts with No. 10 Ohio State and No. 1 Notre Dame, could have been avoided.
“I’m sorry we lost to Ohio State,” coach Laurie Schiller said. “That’s the one I thought we let get away. And we’ve shown we can compete in the top 10.”
NU lost 11-16 to the Fighting Irish before dropping a painful 13-14 decision to the Buckeyes at the NYU Invitational. Schiller said he felt like a few minor improvements could have altered the outcome of both bouts.
In the last bout, Schiller said the team started out sluggishly against Notre Dame and the slow start hindered the Cats when they hit their stride later.
“Overall we fenced really well,” junior foilist Camille Provencal said. “But against Notre Dame and Ohio State we felt like we could have maintained our intensity a little bit better. Intensity is very important and so is having a little more focus.”
No. 7 NU has gone 3-2 against top-10 teams this season, and looks to notch what would be a defining win against the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame has fielded a strong team for the past few seasons, finishing in the top three at the NCAA Championships the last three years. The Cats have enjoyed very little success against the nation’s top team during this period.
In South Bend, however, NU hopes that changing its strategy and attitude will lead to a different outcome.
“What I expect is for us to win all the rest of the matches, but the question mark is Notre Dame,” Schiller said. “Everyone else is weaker than them so we want to focus on Notre Dame. I’m tired of the moral victories, you know? We haven’t beaten them in a while.”
After their meet against Notre Dame on Saturday, NU will return home for two weeks and host the Northwestern Duals on Feb. 5 and 6.
For now, though, NU’s focus is on Notre Dame.
“We want to get back at Notre Dame and show them the kind of intensity we can bring,” Provencal said. “We want to show them what we can do.”
