Thursday, March 22
State College, Pa.
All Day
Northwestern
vs
NCAA Championships
Four 'Cats Selected for NCAA Fencing Championships
3/14/2018 2:25:00 PM | Women's Fencing
EVANSTON, Ill. – As announced by the NCAA on Tuesday, Northwestern will send Emine Yücel, Pauline Hamilton, Yvonne Chart and Sarah Filby to the NCAA Championships, hosted by Penn State in State College, Pa. on Mar. 22-25.
Yücel will fence in sabre for the Wildcats, Hamilton will fence in epee, and Chart and Filby will fence in foil. Each individual weapon features a field of 24 fencers from the top teams in the country who will fence in a round-robin of five-touch bouts. The top four fencers from each weapon will advance to the knockout rounds, featuring 15-touch direct elimination bouts.
For the women's competition, each fencer will complete 15 bouts on Thursday, Mar. 22 and finish the next eight bouts on Friday, Mar. 23. The semifinal and championship bouts will start at noon on Friday. The semifinals and finals for all weapons will be streamed live on the WatchESPN app and ESPN3, and will also air delayed on ESPNU at noon on Apr. 4.
The overall team results are determined by the total number of five-touch bouts won by each school, with knockout bouts not being taken into consideration. Northwestern is looking to get back in the top-ten after snapping a 17-year streak of finishing there last season. The Wildcats' highest finish is sixth, accomplished in 2002 and 2004.
Four schools–Columbia, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Penn State–have the maximum six women's qualifiers allowed. Harvard and Yale have five each, while Northwestern's four matches the total from Penn, Princeton and St. Johns.
NORTHWESTERN NCAA QUALIFIERS
Pauline Hamilton
Hamilton is the only active Wildcat with a NCAA Championships appearance after qualifying for epee last season as a first year, where she finished 15th, just three spots shy of All-American status. Hamilton earned her way back to the championships after finishing fourth in the Midwest Regional epee competition. Her overally record jumped to 59-27, good for the most wins in the epee squad this season. Hamilton is the only sophomore with over 100 wins at Northwestern, and with her qualification this season, she becomes the fifth Wildcat since 2010 to advance to the NCAA Championships in each of the first two years of her career.
Emine Yücel
Yücel qualified for her first NCAA Championships by winning the sabre Midwest Regional outright in Cleveland. Yücel became just the fifth Northwestern fencer since 2000 to win a regional and the first since 2001 to win in sabre. Yücel has a 57-31 record and owns the most wins out of the sabre squad this season. Yücel also finished as a quarterfinalist in the individual sabre competition at the Midwest Fencing Conference Championships and helped the sabre team take home a weapon title.
Yvonne Chart
Chart punched her ticket to the NCAA Championships by finishing in fourth place at the foil Midwest Regional with an 11-3 record. Chart leads the foil squad this season with 55 wins and her 155 career wins are the second most on the active Wildcat leaderboard. Chart advanced to the quarterfinals at the individual foil MFC event and also was a part of the foil squad's first weapon title since 2012.
Sarah Filby
Filby finished sixth at the Midwest Regional and became the eighth Wildcat since 2010 to qualify for the NCAA Championships as a first year. Filby fenced to an impressive 47-15 record in her rookie campaign, while also competing internationally for Canada, securing a spot on the junior national team for the World Championships in Italy in early April. Filby also made a run all the way to the finals in the individual foil main draw at the MFCs while also fencing in the foil squad's championship run.
For more updates ahead of the NCAA Championships, follow @NUWFencing on Twitter and Northwestern Fencing on Facebook.
Yücel will fence in sabre for the Wildcats, Hamilton will fence in epee, and Chart and Filby will fence in foil. Each individual weapon features a field of 24 fencers from the top teams in the country who will fence in a round-robin of five-touch bouts. The top four fencers from each weapon will advance to the knockout rounds, featuring 15-touch direct elimination bouts.
For the women's competition, each fencer will complete 15 bouts on Thursday, Mar. 22 and finish the next eight bouts on Friday, Mar. 23. The semifinal and championship bouts will start at noon on Friday. The semifinals and finals for all weapons will be streamed live on the WatchESPN app and ESPN3, and will also air delayed on ESPNU at noon on Apr. 4.
The overall team results are determined by the total number of five-touch bouts won by each school, with knockout bouts not being taken into consideration. Northwestern is looking to get back in the top-ten after snapping a 17-year streak of finishing there last season. The Wildcats' highest finish is sixth, accomplished in 2002 and 2004.
Four schools–Columbia, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Penn State–have the maximum six women's qualifiers allowed. Harvard and Yale have five each, while Northwestern's four matches the total from Penn, Princeton and St. Johns.
NORTHWESTERN NCAA QUALIFIERS
Pauline Hamilton
Hamilton is the only active Wildcat with a NCAA Championships appearance after qualifying for epee last season as a first year, where she finished 15th, just three spots shy of All-American status. Hamilton earned her way back to the championships after finishing fourth in the Midwest Regional epee competition. Her overally record jumped to 59-27, good for the most wins in the epee squad this season. Hamilton is the only sophomore with over 100 wins at Northwestern, and with her qualification this season, she becomes the fifth Wildcat since 2010 to advance to the NCAA Championships in each of the first two years of her career.
Emine Yücel
Yücel qualified for her first NCAA Championships by winning the sabre Midwest Regional outright in Cleveland. Yücel became just the fifth Northwestern fencer since 2000 to win a regional and the first since 2001 to win in sabre. Yücel has a 57-31 record and owns the most wins out of the sabre squad this season. Yücel also finished as a quarterfinalist in the individual sabre competition at the Midwest Fencing Conference Championships and helped the sabre team take home a weapon title.
Yvonne Chart
Chart punched her ticket to the NCAA Championships by finishing in fourth place at the foil Midwest Regional with an 11-3 record. Chart leads the foil squad this season with 55 wins and her 155 career wins are the second most on the active Wildcat leaderboard. Chart advanced to the quarterfinals at the individual foil MFC event and also was a part of the foil squad's first weapon title since 2012.
Sarah Filby
Filby finished sixth at the Midwest Regional and became the eighth Wildcat since 2010 to qualify for the NCAA Championships as a first year. Filby fenced to an impressive 47-15 record in her rookie campaign, while also competing internationally for Canada, securing a spot on the junior national team for the World Championships in Italy in early April. Filby also made a run all the way to the finals in the individual foil main draw at the MFCs while also fencing in the foil squad's championship run.
For more updates ahead of the NCAA Championships, follow @NUWFencing on Twitter and Northwestern Fencing on Facebook.
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Players Mentioned
Foil
/ Women's Fencing
Foil
/ Women's Fencing
Epée
/ Women's Fencing
Sabre
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