Northwestern University Athletics
The 1999-2000 Fencing Outlook
1/21/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Fencing
Jan. 21, 2000
EVANSTON, Ill. - The Northwestern women?s fencing team finished the 1998-99 season with a 24-5 record, and for the second straight season finished second to Notre Dame at the Midwest Conference Championships. This year, head coach Laurie Schiller and his squad look to take over the top spot.
?Notre Dame has a good squad year in and year out, but with the addition of Sabre to official competition we plan on winning the championship,? said Schiller. ?This is one of the best teams I?ve had in my 22 years here and I hope we can take advantage of the situation we?re in.?
This year marks the first time Sabre will be added to all competitions as an official weapon. Schiller has been training in the sabre division with some of his athletes for a few years now.
?We have a strong advantage in the Sabre division because most teams are first year squads, we?ve been practicing,? said Schiller.
Even though Sabre was an exhibition sport a year ago, the Northwestern fencing team competed in 13 duals and finished with a 12-1 record. Midwest Regional Champion, junior sabreist Carly Wells, returns after tallying a 46-2 record a year ago. Her only two losses were to fencers from Brown and New York University.
Seniors Jessica Brower and Vivian Imaizumi look to take the second and third starting spots for the ?Cats. Brower finished last season with a 24-13 record while Imaizumi will see her first action this year.
In foil, Northwestern returns two sophomore starters in Kristen Dorf and Maggie Kebrdle. Dorf compiled a 103-38 record a year ago to lead the Wildcats in victories. She is also 18th on the career wins list after just one year of competition. Kebrdle was 52-21, going undefeated in 12 of the 23 matches in which she competed.
?Kristen was one of our best fencers last year,? said Schiller. ?She went to nationals and finished in the bottom half. We expect her to make a good run at making it back to nationals and improving on last year?s performance.?.
Along with Dorf, freshman Eva Mendelsohn looks to enter the starting lineup right away. Mendelsohn, a New York native, finished seventh at the Empire State Games in high school. Also looking for significant action are seniors Erin Epstein (41-28) and Elizabeth Weber (25-7).
In the Ep?e division, Schiller expects blue chip recruit Kate Rudkin to make an immediate impact for the ?Cats. Rudkin fenced on the 1995, ?97, ?98 and ?99 cadet and junior US women?s ep?e teams.
?She?s probably the best recruit I?ve had here at Northwestern,? said Schiller. ?She had a good high school career and that?s hard to find. She should step right in and win some matches for us.?
A sophomore, Jennifer Greenebaum, returns to the squad after compiling an impressive 90-31 record as a frosh.
?Rudkin and Greenebaum are a good 1-2 punch,? said Schiller. ?They should win a bunch of matches for us.?
Seniors Meghan Gaseor (64-49) and Tara Houseworth (59-54) also had good years and are expected to be productive for NU.
?We had a young class of fencers last year,? said Schiller. ?The team I have this year may be the best I?ve had in my 22 years of coaching. It just remains to be seen how well they can do. It should be an exciting year for Northwestern fencing.?
