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, 2026 Women: 1987, 2026 Combined: 1994, 2003, 2005, 2011, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025

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, 2026) 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) Ahmed Hesham (2026)

Year-by-year results The following is a list of Notre Dame's all-time season records. Note that women's fencing was club status from 1972 (the year Notre Dame became coed) to 1975, becoming varsity in the 1976 season.

+ Notre Dame Fencing Results by Season Season Conference Head coach Men's Overall Record Women's Overall Record NCAA Championships (Men) NCAA Championships (Women) 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 10th 1942 5-3 1943 2-4 1947 Herbert Melton 4-3 13th 1948 9-1 12th 1949 8-1 24th 1950 9-0 6th 1951 Walter Langford 8-2 10th 1952 9-2 16th 1953 13-1 7th 1954 12-1 8th 1955 12-3 8th 1956 15-2 15th 1957 14-1 9th 1958 16-0 6th 1959 13-2 8th 1960 14-2 7th 1961 10-6 13th 1962 Mike DeCicco 7-8 12th 1963 14-2 10th 1964 15-2 5th 1965 15-2 15th 1966 17-4 1967 18-0 6th 1968 Great Lakes Conference 20-1 6th 1969 16-1 6th 1970 20-2 8th 1971 21-3 6th 1972 19-2 2-3 8th 1973 15-3 3-2 12th 1974 22-1 13-2 13th 1975 23-2 8-5 3rd 1976 26-0 8-6 3rd 1977 23-0 35-10 1st 1978 18-0 13-1 1st 1979 20-0 14-3 2nd 1980 19-1 11-2 8th 1981 21-2 16-4 5th 1982 20-1 11-8 7th 6th 1983 23-2 17-6 2nd 12th 1984 19-1 13-5 3rd 1985 23-0 12-7 2nd 9th 1986 Michael DeCicco, Yves Auriol 26-0 23-0 1st 2nd 1987 22-0 19-0 4th 1st 1988 24-1 17-2 2nd 2nd 1989 21-0 15-1 4th 3rd 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 2026 26-3 28-1 1st 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.

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.

Notes

References