Rams Beat St. Joe’s by the Sea, Host Jesuit Lacrosse Classic This Weekend

The Fordham Prep lacrosse season started with a bang as the Rams executed a dominating 18 - 0 victory over St. Joseph’s by the Sea on Murphy Field. There was limited action on the defensive side of the field but the Prep long poles, and goalies Trey Lalonde ‘25 (New Fairfield) and Jude Ross ‘23 (Manhattan), registered Fordham’s first shutout since 2014 (15 - 0 vs. Mount St. Michael). James Spring ‘24 (Bronxville) set the tone winning 13 of 15 faceoffs as the Ram offense fired off 37 shots and held possession 62% of the time. Congratulations to Jack Batesky ‘24 (Manhattan) and Graham Meyer ‘24 (Pelham), who notched their first career goals during the game.

The Rams’ 18 goal output was one more than they put up last year in the 17 - 9 win against St. Joseph’s - Metuchen (NJ) and the most since they tallied 18 against Monsignor Farrell in 2021 (18 - 4). It was Fordham’s largest margin of victory since beating Mount St. Michael’s 20 - 1 in 2015.

Looking ahead to this week, the Prep is hosting two Jesuit peers for the inaugural New York Jesuit Lacrosse Classic. The Rams will play Belen Jesuit (Miami) on Friday and McQuaid Jesuit (Rochester) on Sunday. As part of that weekend we will be honoring former Varsity Head Coach Len DeLucia P’09 during several events on Sunday. You can find details of the day (here). We encourage all alumni, parents, and friends of the program to join us on Sunday for what will be a great day of Fordham Prep lacrosse.

Belen Jesuit is 9 - 4 already in the earlier starting Florida season against various in-state teams. The Prep last faced Belen Jesuit in the 2015 Jesuit Lacrosse Classic in Florida, a 5 - 2 Prep victory, and is the programs’ only meeting. McQuaid has its opener on Tuesday and this will be the first meeting between the two programs.

Kudos to Charlie English ‘23 (Rye), Jack Freel ‘23 (Manhattan), and Jack O’Leary ‘23 (Rye) on being named to the Lohud.com Boys Lacrosse Elite 11 Watch List (here).

We neglected to mention in last week’s season preview (here) that the team schedule and roster is up on the Top Corner Club website and can be found here - (schedule), (roster).

St. Joseph’s Recap: W 18 - 0:

The Rams took the lead off their opening possession as PJ Cunningham ‘23 (Bronx) grabbed a loose ball behind the cage and swept topside to dump it past the St. Joe’s keeper. The goals then came fast and furious as James Spring ‘24’s dominance at the faceoff X gave the Prep all the possessions. Goals by Jack O’Leary ‘23, Lewis Moore ‘23, Jack Freel ‘23, and Cunningham ‘24’s second, gave Fordham a 6 - 0 lead with 4:10 to go in the first quarter. The Vikings only possession up until then was in a man up situation but ended quickly when Will Muccia ‘23 (Rye) stripped his man of the ball and sent it the other way upfield. Four more straight made it a 10 - 0 margin at quarter end.

The Prep opened the scoring in the second quarter on a fast break feed from Tommy Gies ‘23 (Rye) to a wide open Jack Freel ‘23 on the crease. After that, the Rams took their foot off the gas and worked their possessions sprinkling in two more goals to make it 13 - 0 at the half. James Spring ‘24 and Gunnar Leonard ‘23 (Larchmont) goals added to the lead, and the Rams made it 16 - 0 at 5:48 in the third off a Charlie English ‘23 pass to PJ Cunningham ‘24 on the high crease, who turned and deposited the ball past the St. Joe’s goalie. At the 10:43 mark in the fourth quarter Graham Meyer ‘24 found the back of the net for his first career goal. St. Joe’s maintained possession for a good chunk of the fourth quarter but the Prep defense continued to shut them down, preserving the shutout. The last goal came from Jack Batesky ‘24, also his career first, at 1:43 left in the quarter taking the final score to 18 - 0.

Stat Line: Cunningham ‘24 4G/1A/5GB, Freel ‘23 3G/3A/4GB, O’Leary ‘23 3G/1A/5GB, English ‘23 3A/4GB, Moore ‘23 2G/1A, Leonard ‘23 2G/1A, Spring ‘24 2G/8GB/13FOW (87%), Batesky ‘24 1G, Meyer ‘24 1G3GB, Gies ‘23 2A, Lalonde ‘25 5 saves, Ross ‘23 5 saves.