Rams Face Iona Prep, Byram Hills, and Rye Country Day This Week

****This week is the return of our equipment drive, benefiting Bronx Lacrosse and CityLax. Equipment can be brought to the home game this Saturday or to school this week to be collected by Mr. Kurtin.****

The Alumni Game and Family BBQ is scheduled for Sunday June 12th at the Prep. We’d love to see a great turnout in the first year back from the two year COVID hiatus and the sooner we know numbers the better. To help with organizing and swag ordering for those playing, please register through the google form here.

The Prep dropped both its games last week to St. Dominic and Rye High School. A rainy and wet field made for a sloppy day at St Doms and left both teams fighting for groundballs for four quarters. The Rams were down by three in the third quarter but strong faceoff play in the second half (6 for 9) gave the Prep possessions and it was able to take a lead late. However, the Bayhawks were able to scratch back and come away with a 9 - 8 win. A stacked Rye team with several college commits got the better of the Prep 15 - 6 as the Garnets unloaded a staggering 52 shots. Jack Freel ‘23 (Manhattan) had two goals and two assists in the loss while Trey Lalonde ‘25 (New Fairfield) had 15 saves.

Tomorrow Fordham faces rival Iona Prep, who come into the game at 10 - 2 with its only defeats being one goal losses to Bronxville and Chaminade. The Gaels have wins this season against common opponents Hackley, Kellenberg, and Bergen Catholic and Iona has won four in a row against the Prep since the Rams OT thriller win in the 2018 City Championship (recap). On Thursday the Rams play Byram Hills, who is 8 - 3 against local Section 1 teams including a 9 - 8 win over Mahopac, who the Prep lost to 7 - 5 earlier in the season. Saturday the Rams return to Murphy Field for Senior Day to face 3 - 6 Rye Country Day. The Wildcats and Rams have one common opponent this season, Hackley, who the Prep lost to by one goal and RCDS lost 14 - 6. Fordham has won three in a row against RCDS with the latest a 9 - 7 victory in 2019.

Good luck to Stephen Zupicich ‘19 and the rest of the #11 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes as they face #3 Rutgers in the Big 10 conference semi- finals on Thursday.

St. Dominic Recap: L 9 - 8

St. Doms took an early 1 - 0 lead, scoring in the first minute, but Fordham tied it up with 8:42 remaining off a Tommy Gies ‘23 (Rye) score. A quick response by the Bayhawks made it 2 - 1 and they grew the lead to two halfway through the first quarter. A great ride by PJ Cunningham ‘24 (Bronx) and Jack Freel ‘23 lead to Charlie English ‘23 (Port Chester) picking off a clearing pass and giving the Rams possession. Cunningham ‘24 then scooped up a loose ball and found Lewis Moore ‘23 (New Rochelle) who slung a low bouncer into the net to cut the lead to 3 - 2. A goal by St. Doms at the 3:42 mark took the lead back to two, where it stood at the end of the first. Off the second quarter opening faceoff the Bayhawks netted another to extend the lead at 5 - 2 but the Rams answered in short order when Jack O’Leary ‘23 (Rye) fed Hudson Pifer ‘23 (Croton-on-Hudson) off a high screen to make it 5 - 3. Off the ensuing faceoff Tommy Gies ‘23 started a fast break and dumped it to PJ Cunningham ‘24 who blasted his first of the day into the back of the net. A goal at the 3:22 mark gave a two goal lead back to St. Doms and 6 - 4 score at the half.

One minute into the second half the Rams executed a perfect fast break with everyone touching the ball and Jack O’Leary ‘23 depositing the layup to cut the lead to 6 - 5. But 20 seconds later St. Doms scored on its own fastbreak to make it 7 - 5. Two in a row from the Rams, from PJ Cunningham ‘24 and William Leddy ‘24 (White Plains), tied it up 7 - 7 with 7:58 remaining. Two and a half minutes later Leddy ‘24 scooped up a loose ball in front of the Bayhawk cage and dumped it in to take the lead 8 - 7. But the Bayhawks came back to tie it with 3:16 remaining and where it stood at the end of the quarter. Three minutes into the fourth St. Doms took the lead again 9 - 8 and did a good job gaining and holding possession over the next eight minutes running down the clock on the Rams. With a minute left the Prep got possession off an over and back call but the Bayhawk goalie made a nice save on a Jack Freel ‘23 shot preserving the 9 - 8 win.

Stat Line: Cunningham ‘24 2G/1A, Freel ‘23 3A, Leddy ‘24 2G, O’Leary ‘23 1G/1A, Gies ‘23 1G/1A/8 GBs, Pifer ‘23 1G, Moore ‘23 1G, English ‘23 1A/6GBs, Powers ‘ 23 4GBs, Lalonde ‘25 9 saves

Rye Recap: L 15 - 6

Rye took the opening faceoff into a fastbreak goal and followed it up with three more in succession to take a 4 - 0 lead at the 5:34 mark. The Prep got on the board to make it 4 - 1 when Hudson Pifer ‘23 drove from behind and found Jack Freel ‘23 who dodged past his defender and buried a high bouncer. Another three in a row by the Garnets extended the lead to 7 - 1 with just over seven minutes remaining in the half. Off a quick restart at midfield Tommy Gies ‘23 started a fastbreak, dumping it off to PJ Cunningham ‘24 who put it past the Rye goalie from about 12 yards out, cutting the lead to 7 - 2. A late goal with eight seconds remaining gave Rye an 8 - 2 advantage at the half.

Rye made it 9 - 2 before Charlie English ‘23 muscled through several Garnets to clear the ball and find Jack Freel ‘23, who drew a slide and flipped it to a wide open Jack O’Leary ‘23 who scored on a nice low to high shot to the top corner. Three more from Rye took it to 12 - 3 but James Davis ‘24 (Rye) snuck a pass from behind to Charlie English ‘23 on the crease who made it 12 - 4 with just under two minutes left in the third quarter. A late hit on English ‘23’s goal gave the Rams a man opportunity immediately after and they took advantage of it with Jack Freel ‘23’s second goal of the day. After Rye netted two more to take the lead to 14 - 5, the Rams got another man-up opportunity and PJ Cunningham ‘24 buried a low bouncer to cut the lead to 14 - 6 with 6:35 remaining. A last goal from the Garnets late in the quarter made it a 15 - 6 final.

Stat Line: Freel ‘24 2G/2A, Cunningham ‘24 2G, O’Leary ‘23 1G, English ‘23 1G, Davis ‘24 1A, Lalonde ‘25 15 saves