Rams to Take on Iona Prep in CHSAA 'AA' City Championship
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Huge game for the Rams this week as they take their five game win streak into the CHSAA ‘AA’ City Championship against Iona Prep. In case you’ve been under a rock, in their regular season matchup Fordham beat Iona in OT after tying the game with three seconds to go in the game. You can see the recap and highlights here. This is the biggest game of the season and sure to be an electric atmosphere at Murphy Field. Let’s get a big crowd there to support the team; game starts at 4:30pm on Tuesday. Last week the Rams picked up a solid victory in a shootout over Bronxville while their game versus Bergen Catholic was cancelled at the last minute due to a scheduling mistake by Bergen Catholic.
History buffs…...since 1992, the Fordham/Iona game has been decided by one goal 17 times with one goal games occurring twice in a season four times (1992, 2012, 2013, 2014). On top of that, the games have been decided in overtime seven times including twice in triple overtime (2008, 2014).
Fordham Prep is now ranked #3 in the Lohud Boys Lacrosse Rankings behind #1 Yorktown and #2 Pleasantville. Congratulations to James Corasaniti ‘18 (Manhattan) for being named the Lohud Boys Lacrosse Player of the Day for his 15 save game changing performance in the upset win against #2 John Jay. Corasaniti also registered his 500th career save between the pipes during the Bronxville game. That’s a lot of black and blues!!!
For those of us who need a refresher (or never understood to begin with, like us), as to how the playoffs work, here’s a breakdown. First there’s the CHSAA ‘AA’ City playoffs where the #1 seed (this year Fordham) gets a bye into the championship game and faces the winner of the #2 versus #3 seeded game (Iona Prep beat Stepinac). Win or lose the teams then move on to the intersectional CHSAA ‘AA’ playoffs against the top three seeds from Long Island. The winner of those playoffs continue on as the Downstate representative versus the Upstate representative for the CHSAA ‘AA’ State Championship. Got it? It was much easier in the 1990s when there was just the old NY Metropolitan Lacrosse League.
Bronxville Recap: (W 15 - 12)
The Rams notched a win versus the Bronxville Broncos on Monday afternoon in what turned out to be a total shootout. The exhaustion from the weekend’s win over John Jay and the APs were apparent, especially for the defense. The team flaunted its many offensive weapons as six players scored multiple goals.
The team got off to another quick start as Jack Dougherty ‘18 (Manhattan) netted his first of four right in the opening seconds of the game. Dougherty put up a monster game versus the Broncos with four goals and an assist. The Edward Madden ‘18 (Crestwood) to James Murray ‘18 (Larchmont) feeding frenzy at the top of the crease continued, generating goal #2 and #3. The third goal was key, as just prior, the Broncos had gone up 3 - 2. It was the first time the Rams were behind in a game since St. Anthony’s on April 19th.
Fordham Prep then took a 6 - 5 lead into halftime with goals from Brendan Sowarby ‘19 (Manhattan), Thomas Marra ‘18 (Irvington), and Stephen Zupicich ‘19 (Bronxville). Zupicich was outstanding during this contest putting up a trifecta of faceoff groundballs, offensive scoring, and high intensity defensive play. He scored the first goal (his second in the game) off the first faceoff of the second half
The Rams dominated the third quarter as more goals poured in from Thomas Marra ‘18, Edward Madden ‘18, and Jack Dougherty ‘18, taking a 12 - 8 lead into the fourth quarter. But this Broncos team showed the mettle they have had all season fighting back with several transition goals to get the score to 13 - 12 with three minutes remaining in the game.
Again, the team showed a grittiness that has enveloped the entire season. The cooked defense dug down and made a huge save coming off a Broncos timeout. Then Thomas Marra ‘18 fed Brendan Sowarby ‘19 on the crease to make it 14 - 12 and followed up by finding the back of the net for the 15th goal to lock down the win. It wasn't pretty but its May; survive and advance season.
Stat Line: Dougherty ‘18 4G/1A, Marra ‘18 3G/2A, Madden ‘18 2G/2A, Murray ‘18 2G/1A, Zupicich ‘19 2G, Sowarby ‘19 2G