Northeastern’s club fencing team has won the title of No. 1 club fencing team in the nation for the past two consecutive years, and the team is hungry to earn the crown back again this year at the United States Association of Collegiate Fencing Clubs, or USACFC, National Championships in April.
The fencing team was founded five years ago as a club called NU Blades by 2023 Northeastern graduates Michael Vala and Clara Wu. The team became an official club sport a year later and is currently under the leadership of fourth-year health science major and president Laura Chu and fourth-year business administration major and student coach Ben Kelly.
“We put a lot of work in, we train, we condition, we do everything that is necessary to put ourselves in position to win,” Kelly said.
The team practices three times a week in Marino Recreation Center, and many players train on their own time at fencing clubs in the Boston area.
Northeastern club fencing competes in épée, saber and foil fencing, each of which have different blades and rules. Épée uses the entire body as a target with point attacks, foil focuses on the torso with point attacks and saber uses the entire blade above the waist for attacks with both the point and the side of the blade.
This spring, Northeastern club fencing kicked off its season with a strong performance at the Boston University Fencing Invitational, with victories in men’s saber, women’s and men’s épée and a total of 10 medalists across the board.
At the New England Intercollegiate Fencing Conference, or NEIFC, Championships in late February, the team continued to dominate against their collegiate competition in the area. NEIFC hosts club and varsity teams, so winners are named both overall and among the club-level teams.
The Huskies won first place in the six-weapon club team for the fourth consecutive year, which encompasses all three weapons for both men and women. They came second for overall six-weapon team behind MIT, an NCAA Division III team.
Northeastern also took first place in the women’s three-weapon club team for the third year in a row, as well as first place in the men’s three-weapon club team. Finally, the team took second in women’s saber and third in women’s overall three-weapon team, which both included NCAA Varsity competition.
As the team looks ahead to Nationals, they are optimistic about their future success.
“Coming out of NEIFC, we’re all feeling a certain confidence going into it,” said Ashley Maestrado, the team’s treasurer and a second-year behavioral neuroscience major. “We have a title to uphold.”
Maestrado started fencing at 8 years old, and has been fencing competitively for years. Many teammates also came into the club with experience, but the team still offers opportunities for less experienced players to get involved. It has found success by focusing on both fencing development and community. Kelly and Chu both emphasized the importance of team dynamics in an individual sport.
“Winning is wonderful and fun and great, but it’s really the people on the team and how we support one another,” Chu said. “We work as a team and we’re always there for each other.”
Kelly agreed. “Our culture and our hard work has really put us at the forefront of club fencing.”
Despite their impressive accolades and status as the No. 1 club team nationwide, Northeastern has not yet implemented a varsity fencing team.
“We reached out to USA Fencing because they were looking to develop more Division 1 teams, and they were very happy that we reached out,” Kelly said. “They worked with us to try and get something done with Northeastern, but unfortunately, Northeastern is not going to prioritize fencing.”
“Northeastern said a big no, they were not too kind about it,” Kelly added.
Matthew Houde, Northeastern’s associate athletic director of communications, public relations and broadcasting, said in a statement to The Huntington News that the university considers a myriad of factors when evaluating club sports’ propositions to be considered varsity.
“Our goal in Athletics and Recreation is to provide a quality experience for all our varsity, club and intramural student-athletes,” Houde said. “When we receive appeals from club programs looking to transition to varsity, we take several factors into account when making a decision including facility space, roster size, coaching staff requirements, support staff requirements, conference opportunities, Title IX requirements, financial obligations and more. In addition, as the national landscape of collegiate athletics continues to shift and evolve, we must be strategic and flexible in order to put Northeastern Athletics in the strongest possible position to succeed at the highest level.”
Nearby schools with Division I fencing programs include Boston College, Sacred Heart University, Brown University, Harvard University and Yale University. Division III schools in the region include Brandeis University, MIT, Tufts University and Vassar College. Northeastern beat Vassar, Sacred Heart and Brandeis to take second overall at NEIFC this year.
In the near future, the fencing team plans to focus on defending its national title and continuing to recruit top fencing, with hopes of leveling up in funding and recognition.
“We compete where we can, we do the best we can, and we’re happy to go out there and be the best club team,” Kelly said.
Northeastern club fencing will travel to Penn State’s Nittany Valley Sports Centre April 5 to 6 to compete in this year’s USACFC National Championships.
