For Northwestern, revenge was at the tip of their weapons, but they just couldn’t get the job done.
After losing to No. 8 Temple 14-13 at the Philadelphia Duals three weeks ago, the No. 4 Wildcats could not gain an edge against the Owls this past weekend at the NU Duals, losing again 14-13. The loss to Temple, in addition to a tough 17-10 loss against No. 2 Princeton, marred an otherwise perfect weekend for the Cats in which they won all seven of their other duals.
“It was unfortunate that we lost to Temple and Princeton,” coach Laurie Schiller said. “We just didn’t put enough together to win the match, unfortunately.”
The event, which took place on Saturday and Sunday at the Henry Crown Sports Pavilion, featured fencers from several different collegiate fencing teams around the country in dual competitions. This was the final competitive tournament NU will compete in until the postseason.
The loss against Temple was difficult for NU, especially given the importance the team had placed on beating Temple at home earlier in the week.
But even with the losses the Cats experienced, Schiller said he was pleased with his team’s performance, as NU did not lose any other duals at the tournament and got impressive victories against No. 10 Duke (17-10) and unranked North Carolina (19-8).
“Like I say every week, we make progress and learn from our mistakes,” Schiller said.
The biggest achievement of the duals was accomplished not by any fencer, but rather by Schiller, who won the 1,100th dual of his career with NU’s 19-8 win over Stevens Tech.
“I didn’t talk to the team about it until after it happened because I didn’t want them to think about it,” Schiller said in a statement. “I haven’t really been thinking about.”
Schiller is one of just two coaches in NCAA history to top 1,000 career wins.
On top of Schiller’s achievement, the Cats also received good news this weekend with the return of several injured fencers to the strips. One of the biggest returns for NU was sophomore epeeist and second team All-American Dina Bazarbayeva.
“She was obviously a little rusty but got better as the weekend went on,” Schiller said. “It’s always good to have somebody who was second team All-American get back into the game.”
The weekend was also an emotional affair, as this was the final competitive home meet for NU’s seniors. Many of the seniors were sentimental about this final opportunity to perform in front of family and friends.
For Schiller, the loss of seniors is always a difficult event, but it is something he expects and deals with every year, he said.
“It’s always a little bit emotional and tough to see the seniors graduate,” Schiller said. “But that’s what we do.”
Schiller also said he is not necessarily sad yet because there are still several postseason competitions seniors will compete in before the season is over.
While NU may have finished its competitive dual schedule, the Cats will have another competition at home this weekend as the NU Duals continue on. However, this weekend’s competition will include a majority of club teams from around the Midwest and will take place in Patten Gymnasium.
