Northwestern Dominates All-MFC Teams

3/5/2018 1:52:00 PM | Women's Fencing

EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern dominated the all-Midwest Fencing Conference teams with six first team selections and 19 fencers overall taking home honors.

The Wildcats tied Ohio State with six first team honorees, but the 19 total selections for Northwestern bettered the Buckeyes' count of 11.

Alexis Browne and Abby Tartell earned first team all-MFC honors in sabre, as did Sarah Filby and Justine Banbury in foil, and Marta Amador Molina and Katie Van Riper in epee.

Four first years landed on first teams, highlighting the success of the youth movement in a record-breaking season for the Wildcats. Filby and Browne both advanced to the finals of the main draw in their individual competitions.

Van Riper earned her second straight first team all-MFC selection after getting back to the semifinals. Tartell vastly improved on her 13th place individual sabre finish last year to take home her first MFC hardware this season.

In sabre, Emine Yücel and Jacqueline Hua qualified for the second team all-MFC with their quarterfinalist finishes. Maddy Curzon and Sacha Bazzal received honorable mentions as well.

The selection is Yücel's second straight to the second team after finishing seventh last year and sixth this year. Hua made an incredible run to the quarterfinals after having to go through pools and winning three knockout bouts, including an all-Wildcat round of 16 clash against Curzon, whose honorable mention added to her first-team selection from last year. Bazzal finished her three-year Wildcat career with two honorable mentions and one second-team nod.

The 'Cats made their most appearances on the awards sheet in foil, with Yvonne Chart, Sharon Chen and Amy Jia each taking home second-team all-MFC honors and Sofia Simontov and Lucia Procopio receiving honorable mentions.

Chart added to her impressive resume which already contains two first team all-MFC finishes. Chen continued her year-by-year rise after jumping from 20th two years ago to tenth last year with another jump to a quarterfinal appearance in 2018. Jia improved from her honorable mention last year to a second team selection as well. Procopio finished her Wildcat career with a bang in her senior season, earning her first MFC honorable mention.

First year Anya Harkness and junior Ella Lombard collected spots on the second team all-MFC in epee, and sophomores Pauline Hamilton and Adelle Berdichevsky both finished with an honorable mention.

Lombard completed a personal trilogy of awards with a first-team selection last year and an honorable mention in her first-year campaign. Both Hamilton and Berdichevsky finished on the second-team last year.

The #B1GCats keep their postseason rolling on Saturday at the NCAA Midwest Regionals, with berths in the NCAA Championships on the line. The competition will be hosted by Cleveland State.