Notre Dame Fighting Irish fencing

Notre Dame Fighting Irish fencing
First season	1934;91 years ago (1934)
Athletic director	Pete Bevacqua
Head coach	Gia Kvaratskhelia 11th season, 726–85 (.895)
Home stadium	Edmund P. Joyce Center
Location	South Bend, Indiana
League	NCAA Divison I
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Past conferences	Great Lakes Conference, Midwest Intercollegiate Conference, Midwest Fencing Conference
All-time record	2,914–335 (.897)
National Titles	14
Conference titles	42
All-Americans	189 [1]
Colors	Blue and gold
Fight song	Notre Dame Victory March
Mascot	Notre Dame Leprechaun
Website	FightingIrish.com

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish fencing team represents the University of Notre Dame in collegiate fencing. The Irish compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference of NCAA Division I.

National championships

Team

• Men: 1977, 1978, 1986 ^[2]
• Women: 1987 ^[2]
• Co-ed: 1994, 2003, 2005, 2011, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025 ^[3]

Individual

Women's Foil

• Molly Sullivan (1986, 1988)
• Heidi Piper (1991)
• Alicja Kryczalo (2002, 2003, 2004)
• Lee Kiefer (2013, 2014, 2015, 2017)
• Stefani Deschner (2021)

Women's Épée

• Magda Krol (1997)
• Kerry Walton (2002)
• Kelley Hurley (2008)
• Courtney Hurley (2011, 2013)
• Eszter Muhari (2023, 2025)

Women's Saber

• Valerie Providenza (2004)
• Mariel Zagunis (2006)
• Sarah Borrmann (2008)
• Francesca Russo (2015, 2017)
• Kara Linder (2021)
• Magda Skarbonkiewicz (2025)

Men's Foil

• Pat Gerard (1977)
• Andrew Bonk (1979)
• Charles Higgs-Coulthard (1984)
• Gerek Meinhardt (2010, 2014)
• Ariel DeSmet (2011)
• Nick Itkin (2018, 2019)
• Marcello Olivares (2021)
• Chase Emmer (2025)

Men's Épée

• Björne Väggö (1978)
• Ola Harstrom (1983)
• Jubba Beshin (1990)
• Michal Sobieraj (2005)

Men's Saber

• Mike Sullivan (1977, 1978)
• Luke LaValle (1998)
• Gabor Szelle (2000)
• Luke Linder (2021, 2023, 2024)

Year-by-year results

The following is a list of Notre Dame's all-time season records. Bold indicates NCAA championship year. ^{[1] [4]}

Notre Dame Fencing Results by Season

Season	Conference	Head Coach	Mens Overall Record	Womens Overall Record	NCAA Championships
1934		Pedro DeLandero	3-5
1935			7-0
1936			9-0
1937			5-3
1938			7-2
1939			7-2
1940		Walter Langford	5-4
1941			7-2
1942			5-3
1943			2-4
1947		Herbert Melton	4-3
1948			9-1
1949			8-1
1950			9-0
1951		Walter Langford	8-2
1952			9-2
1953			13-1
1954			12-1
1955			12-3
1956			15-2
1957			14-1
1958			16-0
1959			13-2
1960			14-2
1961			10-6
1962		Mike DeCicco	7-8
1963			14-2
1964			15-2
1965			15-2
1966			17-4
1967			18-0
1968	Great Lakes Conference		20-1
1969			16-1
1970			20-2
1971			21-3
1972			19-2	2-3
1973			15-3	3-2
1974			22-1	13-2
1975			23-2	8-5
1976			26-0	8-6
1977			23-0	35-10	M: 1st
1978			18-0	13-1	M: 1st
1979			20-0	14-3	M: 2nd
1980			19-1	11-2	M:
1981			21-2	16-4	M:, W:
1982			20-1	11-8	M:, W:
1983			23-2	17-6	M: 2nd, W:
1984			19-1	13-5	M:, W:
1985			23-0	12-7	M: 2nd, W:
1986		Michael DeCicco, Yves Auriol	26-0	23-0	M: 1st, W: 2nd
1987			22-0	19-0	M:, W: 1st
1988			24-1	17-2	M: 2nd, W: 2nd
1989			21-0	15-1	M:, W:
1990			24-1	22-1	3rd
1991			23-0	19-0	3rd
1992	Midwest Fencing Conference		14-0	11-2	4th
1993			23-1	17-3	6th
1994			21-0	35-2	1st
1995			24-2	28-0	3rd
1996		Yves Auriol	23-2	26-1	2nd
1997			24-2	29-1	2nd
1998			25-1	24-1	2nd
1999			22-1	19-4	2nd
2000			18-2	18-2	2nd
2001			25-0	21-4	3rd
2002			18-0	20-2	3rd
2003		Janusz Bednarski	24-0	22-2	1st
2004			24-1	26-0	3rd
2005			21-3	22-2	1st
2006			29-1	29-1	4th
2007			19-5	24-4	4th
2008			27-4	29-2	2nd
2009			33-0	30-2	2nd
2010			33-0	35-0	3rd
2011			29-1	29-0	1st
2012			29-6	25-6	3rd
2013			19-7	26-1	2nd
2014			21-6	18-8	6th
2015	Atlantic Coast Conference	Gia Kvaratskhelia	26-6	32-2	3rd
2016			35-3	38-0	5th
2017			30-8	35-4	1st
2018			30-7	37-2	1st
2019			30-5	34-2	3rd
2020			35-8	38-7	Cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic
2021			11-0	16-0	1st
2022			41-0	45-3	1st
2023			37-4	35-5	1st
2024			37-6	35-10	2nd
2025			36-2	33-1	1st

Facilities

Castellan Family Fencing Center

After the Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's ice hockey team moved from the Joyce Center to the Compton Family Ice Arena in 2011, the vacated facilities were renovated and opened as the Castellan Family Fencing Center in 2012. The facility consists of 15 permanent strips in front of bleacher seating, under which features separate men’s, women’s and coaches’ locker rooms, an armory repair room, team lounge and kitchen area, an enclosed conference room and individual coaches offices. ^[5]

Prior to 2012, the Irish trained on the second floor of the Joyce Center and hosted home matches opposite the hockey rink on portable strips.

The Winning Streak

From 1975 to 1980, the Irish won 122 straight regular season matches, surpassing John Wooden's 88 consecutive basketball wins to set the NCAA varsity sports winning streak record, a record not broken for over a decade. (Interestingly, UCLA lost to Austin Carr's Notre Dame team in 1971, then went undefeated until Adrian Dantley's Notre Dame team in 1974). During the streak, the Irish won their first national championship in 1977 and again in 1978.

References

1. "Fencing Record Book 2024" (PDF). FightingIrish.com.
2. "Discontinued Championships" (PDF). fs.ncaa.org.
3. "Championship History". ncaa.com.
4. "Fencing: National Collegiate Men's and Women's" (PDF). fs.ncaa.org.
5. "Castellan Family Fencing Center". FightingIrish.com.