The Notre Dame fencing program has become synonymous with the word dynasty over the past decade, and rightfully so. The program is something of an anomaly. Their six national titles in eight seasons speak for themselves. In 2025, the Irish carried their storied legacy yet further, reigning supreme once again as national champions, firmly cementing themselves as one of the greatest dynasties in the history of collegiate athletics.
Notre Dame started the season with a point to prove after finishing as runners-up to Harvard in 2024. They entered the season with lofty expectations, largely thanks to the return of several fencers who had forgone the 2024 season to train for the 2024 Summer Olympics. One of those fencers was none other than junior epee specialist Eszter Muhari.
Muhari scored a bronze medal at the Olympics, and, with an individual national title to her name during the 2023 season, her presence was sorely missed throughout 2024. She wasted no time picking up where she left off, going undefeated at Notre Dame’s season opener, the Elite Invitational hosted by the University of Pennsylvania.
While Muhari continued to dominate throughout the year, she saved her best showing for last. The junior went 25-0 at the NCAA Championships, becoming the seventh fencer to go 23-0 in the round-robin stage and the first-ever women’s epee competitor to post a perfect record in NCAA Championships history.
“The results speak about her talents, it’s absolutely outstanding,” associate head coach Cedric Loiseau said. “There are not many words to define her. Greatness, obviously. She’s the best epee specialist ever in our program, both men and women. What she’s achieved while being in school: medalist at the Olympics, and she’s won two world cups on top of that. She’s third in the world right now, but the other two are retired and they were first and second in the Olympics. At that point, she’s on top of the world, really. What else can we say?”
Notre Dame’s glory was not just limited to the record-setting Muhari. Sophomore Chase Emmer and freshman Magda Skarbonkiewicz each won individual titles in men’s foil and women’s sabre, respectively. Emmer took down Harvard’s Andrew Chen in the championship match while Skarbonkiewicz defeated freshman teammate and longtime friend Siobhan Sullivan.
The latter match was a bittersweet moment for the two, as Skarbonkiewicz and Sullivan grew up fencing together at the same club in Portland, Oregon. It was also a moment of relief for the coaching staff, who were able to sit back and observe as two of their own took to the nation’s biggest stage.
“For us, when that’s the case, the job is done,” Loiseau said. “We step back and just watch for the kids to see who comes on top.”
Notre Dame’s success at the National Championships was the cherry on top of a dominant season. Two weeks prior, sophomore sabre Radu Nitu and freshman foil Liam Bas won gold at the ACC Championships on the men’s side. Meanwhile, Muhari and Skarbonkiewicz were joined by senior foil specialist Rebecca Candescu to complete an Irish sweep in the women’s bracket.
In total, the men’s team finished 36-2 in regular season meets. The women nearly matched the men’s total, finishing 36-3. It’s worthwhile to note that two of the women’s losses came at the Beguinet Classic, where they were forced to forfeit their epee bouts as too many of their specialists were competing at the World Championships in Barcelona. Muhari ended up placing first in Spain, turning the Irish’s loss into a moral victory.
What’s even more impressive is that the Irish are showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Besides Skarbonkiewicz, Sullivan and Bas, fellow freshman Ahmed Hesham earned a tie for third at nationals and was runner-up to Nitu at the ACC Championships. The Irish boasted 25 freshmen on their roster in 2024, and with yet another highly ranked recruiting class entering the program in the fall, Notre Dame will once again be viewed by the college fencing world as the team to beat.
“Very often when you show up with freshmen, and we had a lot of them, it’s usually a big question mark,” Loiseau said. “They all performed very well, whether it was Siobhan or Magda in sabre. Magda won it all; Siobhan also did incredible, obviously. That freshmen class is incredible, and they also fenced incredibly, which helped us to capture the title.”
The large freshman class is a stark contrast to the small graduating senior class: sabre specialists Emily Chang, Atara Greenbaum, Alexandre Lacaze, Henry Nadile and Jadeyn Williams, as well as epee Kaylin Sin Yan Hsieh and foil Candescu. Together, the class won three national championships, placing them tied for first in Irish fencing history.
Notre Dame’s national championship is their sixth under the stewardship of head coach Gia Kvaratskhelia, who now stands alone with the most national titles of any coach in Notre Dame history.
Between the excellence of Muhari, the success of the freshmen and the record-breaking Kvaratskhelia, it’s safe to say that the fencing program has solidified its spot in collegiate athletics as one of the greatest dynasties of all time.
