O n March 20, the Lowell Cardinals took on the University Red Devils at Lowell. The boys defeated the Red Devils in dominating fashion, winning 7–2. The girls won 5–4 in overtime with freshman Jordyn Kosai taking the final win.

Going into the bouts, which are one-on-one faceoffs, head coach Scott Cunningham told his players to stick together no matter what happens. “If the pressure is distributed evenly and everyone can win a bout, then we can take the match,” Cunningham said.

On the boys’ side, the Cardinals caught a break with the Red Devils’ most experienced fencer out with injury, according to Cunningham. The boys’ match started with senior boys’ captain Jacky Huang outmaneuvering his University counterpart, winning 5–3. To follow up, defending state champion junior Benjamin Hadler shut out his opponent behind strong attacks and counterattacks, winning 5–0. The Lowell fencers continued to assert their dominance, winning the ensuing bouts by scores of 5–3 ,5–0, 5–2, 5–3, and 5–4, dropping only two bouts 5–3. In the end, the boys took the match 7–2.

The girls started out on the wrong foot, getting shut out by the Red Devils in the opening bout 5–0. Unphased, Kosai responded by returning the favor, blanking her counterpart in a 5–0 victory. To follow up, senior girls’ captain Jocelyn Chu was defeated 5–3 and Kosai was defeated 5–4, putting Lowell behind 3–1 in the match. Chu and freshman Esme Cohen broke the slump with 5–3 and 5–2 victories to tie the match up at 3–3. Looking to take the match, Cohen got the Cardinals ahead 4–3 with a 5–3 win. After a dropped bout, the match was tied 4–4.

In the final bout of the match, Kosai came away with a close 3–2 victory in sudden-death overtime to seal the Cardinals victory. “It was scary and nerve wracking,” Kosai said after the match. “I thought I had [the winning touch] a few times, lost it a few times, but scored the winning point in the end.”

The Cardinals will cross foils with Wallenberg on April 3 at 4 p.m.