The #4 Northwestern fencing team battled at South Bend, Indiana, home of #1 Notre Dame, in the NCAA Midwest Regionals this past weekend. On March 9, the Wildcats took 11 fencers to the tournament which included Notre Dame, #8 Ohio State, Detroit Mercy, Wayne State, Lawrence and Cleveland State. Northwestern’s strongest competitors were Notre Dame and Ohio State.

Now in the postseason, the women are vying for spots at the NCAA championships, which they have a strong shot at after this weekend. Pauline Hamilton went 7-5 and finished in 5th place for épée, just weeks after winning her third First Team honors in the All-MFC selection. Following Hamilton in epeé were Julia Falinska (7-5) in 6th and Maggie Snider (6-6) in 7th, who was a first time winner of the First Team honors this year as well.

Northwestern’s top-placing fencer was Emine Yucel, who went 10-3 and placed 4th in saber. Although the team had a strong bout, Notre Dame took first in all three events and may send the maximum 12 fencers to the NCAA championships.

Despite a strong season, the ‘Cats dropped from #2 to #4 over the past month; even then, five fencers are still poised to challenge for national championships. On Tuesday, NCAA announced that Pauline Hamilton (epeé), Yvonne Chart (foil), Alyssa Chen (foil), Julia Falinska (epeé) and Emine Yücel (sabre) will attend the NCAA championships on March 23-24 at Cleveland State.

If the fencers place high enough, they will attend the USA Fencing NAC in April.