Northwestern Freshman Wins Gold in Sabre at North American Cup

Women's fencing was very successful over the weekend.

Northwestern Fencing graphic of Nisha Hild. | Photo: Northwestern Athletics

First-year fencer Nisha Hild was the story this weekend for Northwestern at USA Fencing's April North American Cup. She came in first place in the Junior Women's Sabre after entering as the No. 20 seed in the event

Gold Standard 🥇

Congratulations to first-year Nisha Hild on winning the Junior Women’s Sabre at @USAFencing’s April North American Cup! pic.twitter.com/yEx0AnGHjG

— Northwestern Fencing (@NUWFencing) April 15, 2025

She beat three higher ranked opponents of her seven match victories en route to the title, besting Natalie Tsui in the final round. Hild represents young talent on this Northwestern team, and she's already having major success at the college level.

Freshman Wildcat Natalie Shearer also competed in the event. The Honorable Mention All-American finished in 19th place.

Northwestern had success elsewhere at the Cup as well. Graduate student Amanda Pirkowski finished tenth in the Division I Women's Epee. Anna Damratoski was close behind, finishing 15th in the event.

In the Division I Women's Foil, only Samantha Serban competed for the Wildcats. She took home a 20th place finish.

Lastly, in the Division I Women's Sabre (a step above the junior competition), Hild finished 17th and Shearer was 20th. Megumi Oishi and Adele Bois both finished inside the top-100 in 57th and 66th place respectively.

The April North American Cup was the last event on the schedule for Northwestern as its season comes to a close. It was a highly successful one once again for the Wildcats. Head coach Zach Moss won his fifth straight conference Coach of the Year and led three Wildcats to All American honors.

Northwestern's performance this weekend was yet another example of a solid program achieving solid results on the national stage.