Notre Dame & No. 1 Finishes
The combined men’s and women’s fencing national title won by Notre Dame this weekend was its second in a row under head coach Gia Kvaratskhelia, and the 10th overall.
The Fighting Irish women took the stage the first two days on Thursday and Friday and scored 95 points, with host Penn State next at 89, followed by Columbia (86), Ohio State (76) and Princeton (60).
The Notre Dame men then expanded the ranking on Saturday and Sunday with 90 more points, giving the team 185 total (one behind their total last season). Columbia finished a relatively distant second with 170, followed by Ohio State (147), Penn State (137) and Harvard (129).
Both the men and women had five All-Americans— highlighted by freshman foilist Nick Itkin capturing an individual national title. Also earning the honors for the men were seniors Jonah Shainberg (sabre) and Nicholas Hanahan (epee), junior Axel Kiefer (foil) and sophomore Ariel Simmons (epee).
For the women, the five All-Americans were senior Francesca Russo (sabre) and juniors Sabrina Massialas (foil), Elyssa Kleiner (foil), Amanda Sirico (epee) and Tara Hassett (sabre).
With the Fighting Irish hockey team advancing to the Frozen Four that begins April 5 and women’s basketball in the Elite Eight on Monday night versus Oregon — plus men’s lacrosse a perennial contender — Notre Dame could have multiple national title winners in the same academic year for only the fifth time.
The most was three during the 1943-44 school year, with football in the fall and then tennis and golf in the spring. The other times it occurred were 1977-78 (football and fencing), 2004-05 (women’s soccer and fencing), and 2010-11 (women’s soccer and fencing again).
With the fencing national title this weekend, here are the 30 total either recognized by the university and/or NCAA:
Football (11): 1924, 1929, 1930, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1966, 1973, 1977 and 1988
In 10 other seasons, Notre Dame received some mention as the national champion, highlighted by winning the 1964 MacArthur Bowl, presented by the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame, an award emblematic of one of the four outlets recognized by the NCAA (along with the Associated Press, the coaches’ poll, which used to be the UPI, and the Football Writers Association of America’s Grantland Rice Trophy).
Notre Dame, however, does not count those other 10 (including 1964) because either they are not consensus or are not recognized by the NCAA.
The Irish were No. 1 or legitimately in the running for it on nine other occasions before losing or tying on either the last day of the regular season or the bowl: 1938 (13-0 at USC), 1948 (14-14 at USC), 1964 (20-17 at USC), 1970 (38-28 at USC), 1974 (55-24 at USC), 1980 (20-3 at USC), 1989 (27-10 at Miami), 1993 (41-39 versus Boston College) and 2012 (42-14 to Alabama in the BCS National Championship Game).
It demonstrates just how challenging it is to finish a season unbeaten or untied (achieved only twice in the last 68 years: 1973 and 1988).
Fencing (10): 1977, 1978, 1986, 1987, 1994, 2003, 2005, 2011, 2017 and 2018
The men won the 1977, 1978 and 1986 titles, while the women earned it in 1987. In 1990, the NCAA went to a combined (men’s and women’s) championship.
Since 1979, the fencers have finished second 14 times, including five in a row from 1996-2000.
Women’s Soccer (3): 1995, 2004 and 2010
Notre Dame’s 30-year history in the sport has also had five runner-up finishes: 1994, 1996, 1999, 2006 and 2008 — all to North Carolina. The Tar Heels have won 21 women’s soccer national titles (when coach Anson Dorrance was the Geno Auriemma of his sport). The Irish are second with three.
Men’s Tennis (2): 1944 and 1959
The Irish shared it with two other teams in ’44 while finishing 9-0 under coach Walter Langford. In ’59 with head coach Tom Fallon, the 14-0 Notre Dame team shared it with Tulane.
Men’s Soccer (1): 2013
At age 68, 12th-year head coach Bobby Clark captured his first NCAA title, one year after losing as the No. 1 seed in the round of 16.
Women’s Basketball (1): 2001
A two-point win over Purdue won it all in 2001 for head coach Muffet McGraw, who took the reins of the program in 1987 and led the Irish to the 1997 Final Four.
Notre Dame also made it to the Final Four five straight seasons from 2011-15, losing in the championship game in 2011 to Texas A&M, in 2012 to Baylor, in the 2013 semifinal to Connecticut in a de facto title game after going 3-0 against the Huskies during the season, and then in the finals again to the Huskies dynasty in 2014 and 2015.
Men’s Cross Country (1): 1957
Coach Alex Wilson’s team won the title held in East Lansing, Mich. Since 1987, now retired coach Joe Piane guided nine top-10 finishes, including No. 3 in 1990 and 2005.
Men’s Golf (1): 1944
The final piece to the 1943-44 school year that resulted in three national titles.
Note: Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame coach George Keogan was retroactively declared the 1927 and 1936 national champs by the Helms Foundation, but that is not recognized by the NCAA.
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