Foil squad captain and senior Camille Provencal will never again compete in a fencing tournament at Northwestern. In her final tournament at NU this past weekend, Provencal never even touched a strip.
“It’s actually interesting to think about it,” Provencal said. “It’s my last tournament and I never actually fenced in it.”
Instead, the senior stayed on the sidelines and cheered on her teammates Saturday as the Wildcats dominated their opponents in the final installment of the NU Duals. Provencal’s performance wasn’t necessary against a slate of mostly club teams.
“Most people did pretty well, and a lot of our younger fencers got in to have experience, which is what we were asking for,” coach Laurie Schiller said.
The event, which occurred in Patten Gym, featured fencers from several club and varsity collegiate teams in the Midwest Conference competing in dual competitions. Besides NU, Lawrence University was the only other NCAA Division I varsity team to compete in the event.
Even though the Wildcats did not reach their original goal of winning every individual bout during any of their duals, NU still performed strongly. Throughout the day the Cats defeated all eight teams and lost only 15 total bouts.
“We might not have gone 270-0, but we got pretty damn close to that,” said senior sabrist Annelise Eeman, who on the day went an impressive 19-1.
For Schiller, the event was a success because he was able to offer experience to younger fencers who do not usually start. However, Schiller said he was also a little upset that he couldn’t get some of these younger fencers more experience due to low attendance by other teams. Snowstorms prevented Michigan and Michigan State from attending, and Wisconsin and Illinois had to fence together because they did not have enough fencers to fill full squads separately.
“It’s an opportunity to get our younger individuals to fence, which is good, but I am disappointed they didn’t have more people to fence,” Schiller said.
On top of giving younger fencers the opportunity to perform, the event allowed regular starters to get some work in. Junior epeeist and epee squad captain Kate Cavanaugh went undefeated at the tournament and in the process picked up her 200th career win.
“It’s fantastic for her and we are all really proud of her,” freshman epeeist Courtney Dumas said. “Practicing with her every day and being on the same squad as her makes me proud to say I am her teammate.”
But even with such an accomplishment for Cavanaugh, there was some sadness at the event, as the seniors knew they would never suit up for a tournament at NU again.
“Reflecting on it now, it’s really sad,” Provencal said. “I love this team.”
This year might be the final time Provencal fences competitively, as she said she is unsure if she will continue the sport after college.
“In the future, I might continue fencing, but for right now I will take a break,” Provencal said.
While this may have been the Cats’ last home event, their season will continue this weekend when some of the NU fencers compete in the 2012 Junior Olympic Fencing Championships in Salt Lake City. The remainder of the team will return to action in two weeks when the Cats participate in the U.S. Collegiate Squad Championships in New York City.
