Tag: Gia Kvaratskhelia

Ivey, Hidalgo, Citron, Westbeld speak after Notre Dame win

Hear what the victors had to say about this game.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – There’s no doubt Notre Dame wants to have one or two more games at Purcell Pavilion this season. The Irish have been playing even better lately, most recently with their 74-58 win over Louisville. It all depends on what the NCAA Tournament selection committee thinks of its resume. We’ll save that discussion for another day though.

The discussion right now is this latest victory, which [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] was happy to talk about afterwards. After a win like that though, it wasn’t enough to bring in the usual one or two players. She brought in her three best, and they all deserved it.

[autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] did her usual thing with 26 points, eight rebounds, four assists and six steals. [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] scored 17 points, and [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] had a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Fighting Irish Wire was on hand during this postgame news conference, and here is some of what was said:

Notre Dame hosts, wins national championship

One program now stands alone atop the school national championship leaderboard.

If you’re looking for Notre Dame to dominate in any sport, have you considered fencing? This year, the national fencing championships were held at the Joyce Center, so you’d figure that would be an advantage for the Irish, right? Whether it was or not, the Irish won the national title for the second straight year. This is the 12th national championship for the fencing program, which now has surpassed football for the most of any athletic program at Notre Dame.

This competition was anything but as far as team scoring because the Irish finished 21 points in front of both Harvard and Columbia, both of which scored 168 (Harvard placed second). It’s the fourth national title for Irish coach Gia Kvaratskhelia. She previously won back-to-back championships in 2017 and 2018.

Earlier in the competition, Kaylin Hsieh won the individual women’s épée title. That made her the sixth female fencer in program history to win a national championship in that category. She was named a first-team All-American as a result.

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Notre Dame fencing wins national championship for 11th time

No, we never cover fencing on this site, but it’s always worth mentioning whenever Notre Dame a national championship in any sport.

No, we never cover fencing on this site, but it’s always worth mentioning whenever Notre Dame a national championship in any sport. The latest came Sunday from the men’s and women’s fencing program, which earned the honor for the 11th time in University Park, Pennsylvania. The title was clinched when the Irish’s Miriam Grady defeated Penn State’s Axelle Wasiak in morning round robin play. The program last won a national title in 2018 in what was the second of a back-to-back.

With the victory, the fencing program has tied the football program for the most national championships won in any sport at Notre Dame. Talk about how no program ever should have caught up with football in this category if you must. Say that this is an indictment of Notre Dame football since its last championship in 1988 if you must. However, that does nothing to lessen this achievement, which is very impressive.

Congratulations to Gia Kvaratskhelia and his staff for getting the most out of a roster with student-athletes from 10 different countries. That they’ve been able to attract so much talent both domestically and abroad is a testament to the program’s success. Here’s to more national championships in the years to come.