LA JOLLA, Calif. — UC San Diego fencing head coach Juan Ignacio Calderon announced the team's 2026-27 schedule today, which sees the Tritons competing in San Diego for five of their eight meets.
 
"We are excited to face another strong schedule and have several competitions at home," Calderon said. "Testing ourselves against the best teams in the country is an important part of our program's continued progress. We reached new heights with our postseason results last season, and I look forward to seeing our scholar-athletes continue to compete and perform at high levels this year."
 
The season begins with the 30th edition of UC San Diego's BladeRunner tournament Sept. 19-20. Nearly 900 fencers came to LionTree Arena for last year's event, which saw the Tritons capture titles in women's saber (Zara Fearns) and women's epee (Pia Huber).
 
UC San Diego's first event with other collegiate teams will be the West Invitational Nov. 7-8. That competition will also be in San Diego, which is set to take place at Sol City SportCenter on the campus of Alliant University.
 
The Triton women will be back on campus for a matchup with Wellesley on Jan. 13 inside Main Gym. The full team then hits the road for the first time later that week when the Tritons visit Philadelphia for the Dave Micahnik Penn Invitational Jan. 16-17. UC San Diego will then compete in Northwestern's Schiller Duals Jan. 30-31 to close out the regular season.
 
LionTree Arena will also be the site of the Tritons' first two postseason events. The NCAA West Regional Championships will be Mar. 13, followed immediately by the MPSF Championships Mar. 14. In 2025, the Tritons won an individual region title (Sunny Sharma) and a program-record four individual conference titles (Nurzhan Abzhanov, Zara Fearns, Katherine Kim, Jacob Levy). The Triton women also won the MPSF team conference championship for the second-straight year.
 
Qualified fencers will then compete in the National Collegiate Fencing Championships Mar. 25-28. Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium is the host site for this year's event. The Tritons had one of their best performances in program history at last year's edition as three scholar-athletes (Nurzhan Abzhanov, Katherine Kim, Sunny Sharma) finished as All-Americans.
 
Calderon enters his ninth season as head coach and 10th overall at UC San Diego. The Tritons have 27 scholar-athletes returning from last season. They will be joined by 11 incoming freshmen.
 
About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program has begun a new era as a member of The Big West in NCAA Division I. The 24-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 39 have garnered prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 90 percent, the highest rate among public institutions in NCAA Division I or II. For more information on the Tritons, visit UCSDtritons.com or follow UC San Diego Athletics on social media @UCSDtritons.