Wildcats Dominate Competition at Philadelphia Invitational

1/21/2018 8:21:00 PM | Women's Fencing

PHILADELPHIA – No. 8 Northwestern continued its sizzling season at the Philadelphia Invitational on Saturday and Sunday, posting a 9-1 record and collecting two ranked wins.

The Wildcats defeated No. 9 Penn and No. 7 Temple as well as Yale, who was receiving votes and finished last season at No. 10 in the College Fencing 360 Coaches' Poll. Head coach Zach Moss' squad also earned victories over Sacred Heart, Cornell, NYU, Fairleigh Dickinson, Brown and Drew.

The 'Cats won their first eight duals of the invitational to own a 25-match win streak dating all the way back to the first dual of the season. Including two sweeps of entire events, the win streak was longest in program history since at least 2002.

Northwestern now owns a 29-4 record with two duals left in the regular season.

Yvonne Chart, Pauline Hamilton and Alexis Browne bolstered the Wildcats' efforts across the three weapons. Chart went 12-3 in foil with an 8-1 record against Temple, Penn and Yale, while Hamilton had six wins herself in epee against the same schools. Browne led all fencers over two days with 15 wins in sabre.

In other notable performances for NU, first year Sofia Simontov went 13-2, junior Sharon Chen went 12-3, sophomore Abby Tartell went 12-3 and fellow classmate Adelle Berdichevsky went 11-3 in her return to the strip.

The 'Cats started Saturday off with a 21-6 takedown of Sacred Heart. First year Marta Amador Molina, Simontov and Tartell all posted 3-0 records in the win.

In the second meeting against Cornell this season, the Purple and White pasted the Big Red, 22-5. Senior Emine Yücel joined four other teammeates with perfect records in the contest.

In the all-purple clash against NYU, Northwestern overpowered the Violets, 20-7. Maddy Curzon, Katie Van Riper and Alexandra Banin all contributed three wins to extend the team's win streak to 20.

The 'Cats faced a stern test against No. 9 Penn, who defeated Northwestern, 15-12, at the Elite Invitational in November. They flipped the result and neutralized the Quakers, 16-11, behind a 3-0 effort from Hamilton in epee.

The #B1GCats had no chance to catch their breath with the next matchup against No. 7 Temple. The team showed its mettle once more and clawed past the Owls, 16-11, with seven wins in foil including, three from Chart.

Northwestern closed out Saturday with a 23-4 victory against Fairleigh Dickinson. Sacha Bazzal and Ashley Gomerman were perfect alongside Tartell in their bouts against the Knights.

On Sunday, NU picked up where it left off with a 20-7 win over Brown, spearheaded by three wins from first year Justine Banbury. The 'Cats rolled into their next matchup with a lopsided 26-1 performance against Drew. The win gave the Wildcats their 25-match win streak.

In a tough matchup against No 2. Columbia, the team's scorching run finally came to a halt in a 17-10 defeat. The sabre squad went 6-3 including three wins from Browne, who was the workhorse of the day for the 'Cats, fencing in 11 out of 12 possible bouts.

The 'Cats closed the meet by grinding past Yale. The Bulldogs defeated Northwestern at the Elite Invitational last season, but Northwestern found a way to enact its revenge in a 14-13 thriller. The sabre squad tallied four wins and epee added three. Needing a dominant performance from foil, the squad delivered with a 7-2 showing, including a dramatic win from Banbury with the match tied at 13-13.

First year Sarah Filby was also in action over the weekend, with an excellent showing at the 2018 Canada Cup. Filby took home second overall in the senior foil competition and third in the junior foil competition.

Filby went 4-2 in the senior pools, and took off in the elimination round, winning four straight bouts to advance all the way to the final, where her run was stopped by No. 1 overall seed, Jessica Zi Jia Guo. Filby went a perfect 6-0 in the junior pools and won three DE bouts in the main draw, before falling to No. 2 seed, Ying Cao, in the semifinals.

The #B1GCats will look keep their hot season going next weekend at the two-day DeCicco Duals hosted by Notre Dame.

Results

NU def. Sacred Heart, 21-6
Sabre: 7-2
Foil: 7-2
Epee: 7-2

NU def. Cornell, 22-5
Sabre: 8-1
Foil: 6-3
Epee: 8-1

NU def. NYU, 20-7
Sabre: 5-4
Foil: 7-2
Epee: 8-1

NU def. No. 9 Penn, 16-11
Sabre: 6-3
Foil: 5-3
Epee: 5-4

NU def. No. 7 Temple, 16-11
Sabre: 4-5
Foil: 7-2
Epee: 5-4

NU def. Fairleigh Dickinson, 23-4
Sabre: 9-0
Foil: 8-1
Epee: 6-3

NU def. Brown, 19-8
Sabre: 6-3
Foil: 6-3
Epee: 7-2

NU def. Drew, 26-1
Sabre: 9-0
Foil: 8-1
Epee: 9-0

No. 2 Columbia def. NU, 17-10
Sabre: 6-3
Foil: 2-7
Epee: 2-7

NU def. Yale, 14-13
Sabre: 4-5
Foil: 7-2
Epee: 3-6

Individual Results

Sabre
Maddy Curzon: 11-4
Abby Tartell: 12-3
Emine Yücel: 10-6
Sacha Bazzal: 4-4
Alexis Browne: 15-6
Ashley Gomerman: 9-3

Foil
Amy Jia: 7-8
Sofia Simontov: 13-2
Justine Banbury: 10-5
Yvonne Chart: 12-4
Sharon Chen: 12-3
Alexandra Banin: 9-5

Epee
Pauline Hamilton: 10-5
Ella Lombard: 9-5
Marta Amador Molina: 11-4
Anya Harkness: 6-7
Katie Van Riper: 10-6
Adelle Berdichevsky: 11-3