Women's Fencing: NU Duals This Weekend

Concerns for the NU Duals:

Northwestern will be fencing 11 matches in the two-day NU Duals this weekend. Starting at 8 am on Saturday morning the Wildcats have to fence three of the nation’s top-ranked teams: No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Penn State and No. 9 Temple. Competing early in the morning will challenge NU’s ability to get loose and stay loose, while having 11 matches in two days will test durability. Both are concerns for the Cats this weekend after several fencers were sidelined in practice this week. Normally senior Gina Annunziato and junior Sam Nemecek get breaks in the middle of the week to rest their knees and prepare for the weekend. Annunziato is in more pain than usual, however, because her cortisone shot has worn off. At Wednesday’s practice Nicole Tilley, Kayley French and Sarah Henning all left practice early due to injuries. French injured her quadriceps while Henning tweaked her hip flexor.

Nemecek profile continued...:

While Nemecek attributes most of her fencing success to her father’s coaching, she also mentioned the role that sports psychology has played in her development. While she originally didn’t like the idea, she invested time toward the end of her high school years into seeing a sports psychologist. Her national ranking jumped 30 spots. Since then Nemecek has been ranked among the top-10 in foil according to most publications. Nemecek is widely regarded as one of the nation’s top foilists, and she thinks so too, as evidenced by her season’s individual goals: earning first-team All-American honors and finishing in the top four at the NCAA Championships.

Note about the NU Duals:

This weekend marks the first time the Cats have fenced at home since early November, and coincidentally is the last time to see the Cats at SPAC this season. This match is a dubbed as a Chipotle Big Game. The women’s fencing team will compete from 8am-2pm Saturday and Sunday, with the men’s club team competing afterwards.