Rams Take Down Greenwich On Senior Day, Three Games On The Docket This Week
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****The Alumni Game and Family BBQ is scheduled for Saturday, June 3rd at the Prep. We’d love to see a great turnout 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 went 2 - 1 last week with a dominant win against Riverdale Country Day and a close one goal loss to Kellenberg, before rebounding with a solid win against Greenwich on Senior Day. The Rams came out slow against Riverdale, leading 3 - 2 at the half, before taking over in the second half for a 10 - 4 victory. Against Kellenberg the Prep seemed to “still be on the bus” getting into a 5 - 0 hole and down 6 - 2 at the half. However, James Spring ‘24’s (Bronxville) performance at the faceoff X and the Defense clamping down allowed the Rams to fight back and get ahead 10 - 9 late in the game, before eventually falling 11 - 10. In what was a very even game across many metrics (faceoffs won, possession time, number of shots, groundballs, clearing percentage, turnovers), the Prep used a six goal third quarter to pull away from Greenwich 11 - 8 and hold on for a 14 - 12 win. We had beautiful weather and a strong win to celebrate the Class of 2023.
This week the boys have three away games to finish up the regular season before they face Iona Prep next week in the CHSAA playoffs. The Prep faces Long Island Lutheran tomorrow, Kennedy Catholic on Thursday, and then Connecticut power Wilton on Saturday. LiLu is 2 - 9 with a 13 - 5 loss to St. Dominic’s, who the Rams beat in 2OT in April. Kennedy Catholic is 9 - 3 and are the reigning CHSAA “A” State Champions (the division below the Fordham Prep/Iona Prep/Stepinac/Kellenberg division). The Prep has won all seven meetings against the Gaels, including 14 - 10 last year. Wilton is 9 - 3 win a 9 - 3 win over Greenwich and a 12 - 7 loss to Stepinac, as well as a one goal win versus Chaminade.
Five Rams have made the Lohud.com mid-season leaders list (here). PJ Cunningham ‘24 (Bronx), Jake Feel ‘23 (Manhattan), and Jack O’Leary ‘23 (Rye) for scoring; James Spring ‘24 for faceoff winning percentage; and Trey Lalonde ‘25 (New Fairfield) for save percentage.
The Prep has always had a long line of goalies going on to play at the college level and two recent alums have been honored for their performances on the field this year - James Corasaniti ‘18 and Will Rice ‘20. Corasaniti ‘18 (Providence) was named the Big East Goalkeeper of the Year and All-Big East First Team. Rice ‘20 (Connecticut College) was named All-NESCAC Second Team.
Riverdale CDS Recap: W 10 - 4
The Rams held the ball the first five minutes of the game, but several nice saves by the Riverdale keeper kept the game scoreless until Tommy Gies ‘23 (Rye) swept across the top and dropped the ball to a wide open PJ Cunningham ‘24 on the crease to make it 1 - 0. Solid Fordham defense and a handful of saves by Trey Lalonde ‘25, as well as a couple from the Falcons goalie, kept both teams off the board for the rest of the quarter. Riverdale opened the scoring a minute into the second quarter but Jack Freel ‘23 followed up shortly after to make it 2 - 1 and Cunningham ‘24 took the lead to 3 - 1 on the Rams’ next possession. Riverdale cut the lead back to one midway through the quarter but neither side could find the back of the net the rest of the way, making it a 3 - 2 score at halftime.
On the first possession of the second half Jack O’Leary ‘23 cranked a shot from just inside the restraining line to extend the lead to 4 - 2, but Riverdale answered quickly again making it a one goal game. At this point the Rams decided to stop letting the Falcons hang around and scored four straight (Freel ‘23, Gies ‘23, Moore ‘23 (New Rochelle), Cunningham ‘24) to bring the score to 8 - 3 at the end of the third quarter. A tally from Freel ‘23, sweeping around from X, in the first minute and a score from Cunningham ‘24 on the next possession made it 10 - 3. The Rams took the foot off the gas the rest of the game and Riverdale managed to light the lamp one last time as we ended with a 10 - 4 final.
Stat Line: Freel ‘23 4G/2A, Cunningham ‘24 3G/1A, Gies ‘23 1G/3A, Moore ‘23 1G/2A, O’Leary ‘23 1G, Lalonde ‘25 10 saves, Ross ‘23 3 saves
Kellenberg Recap: L 11 - 10
The Prep spent the first four minutes of the game with the ball, but a couple of saves by Kellenberg’s goalie kept them off the board. The Firebirds broke the ice at 8:12 and 7:10 to take a 2 - 0 lead and after a solid job by the Rams defense killing a penalty Kellenberg, after a long possession, made it 3 - 0 at 3:45 left. One more with under two minutes remaining gave Kellenberg a 4 - 0 lead at the end of the first quarter. Three minutes into the second quarter the Firebirds extended the lead to five until the Rams got a man up opportunity and Jack O’Leary ‘23 made Kellenberg pay with 5:52 to go. Off the ensuing faceoff off a heads up groundball by Jack Freel ‘23, PJ Cunningham dropped a bouncer past the Firebird goalie to bring the score to 5 - 2. A late goal by Kellenberg made it 6 - 2 at the half.
At 8:12 in the third quarter O’Leary ‘23 drove off a restart to notch his second of the day and a minute and a half later Freel ‘23 drove from behind the cage to make it 6 - 4. Kellenberg stopped the Rams’ run with a pole goal at 3:59 off a fast restart at midfield and tallied another a minute later to bring the lead back to three at 8 - 5. But the Prep answered at 2:06 when O’Leary ‘23 drove from up top and dished it to Tommy Gies ‘23 who ripped in a frozen rope to make it 8 - 6. Just before quarter end, with 12 seconds left, O’Leary ‘23 netted his third and off the James Spring ‘24 faceoff win, and scored his fourth goal to tie the game with two seconds remaining in the third quarter. The Firebirds took the lead back a minute and a half into the fourth quarter but O’Leary ‘23 made it 9 - 9 five seconds later off the ensuing faceoff. The Rams found themselves two men up with six minutes left and used it to take the lead off a Cunningham ‘23 goal, but Kellenberg tied it again 10 - 10 thirty seconds later. A long Firebird possession resulted in a goal at 3:23, and although the Prep had a few scoring chances in the last three minutes, the Kellenbeg goalie denied them securing the 11 - 10 victory.
Stat Line: O’Leary ‘23 5G/1A, Cunningham ‘24 3G, Freel ‘23 1G/1A, Gies ‘23 1G/1A/5GB, Spring ‘24 1A/6GB/17FOW (77%), Lalonde ‘25 7 saves
Greenwich Recap: W 14 - 12
After two Rams possessions that were ended by Greenwich saves, the Cardinal drew first blood two minutes in but PJ Cunningham ‘24 tied it up a minute later off a rebound. At the six minute mark Greenwich took the lead but on the next possession Jack Freel ‘23 drove from behind to tie it again 2 - 2. The teams continued to trade goals as Greenwich tallied another and Freel ‘23 made it 3 - 3 in the last seconds of the first quarter. The Cardinal broke the tie early but a minute later a great ride from the Rams, and Cunningham ‘24 goal, made it 4 - 4. Shortly after a messy loose ball scrum in front of the Rams’ cage went Greenwich’s way as they snuck one in and then took the lead to 6 - 4 on their next possession. At the seven minute mark Tommy Gies ‘23 found Freel ‘23, who turned and fired one past the Cardinal keeper to cut the lead once again to one. One more score from Greenwich made it 7 - 5 at the half.
Starting with Freel ‘23’s third of the day, the Rams fired off six straight goals before Greenwich snuck in a score with 15 seconds to go to make it 11 - 8 at the end of the third quarter. Freel ‘23 continued to have a day, netting his fourth two minutes into the fourth quarter, but the Cardinal hung tight scoring two to cut the lead to 12- 10 with six minutes remaining. However, Jack O’Leary ‘23 and Freel ‘23 answered on the next two Prep possessions to bring the score to 14 - 10. Greenwich continued to dig deep and scored two in succession to again cut the lead to two with two minutes remaining, but the Rams yielded nothing more and took home the 14 - 12 win.
Stat Line: Freel ‘23 6G/1A, Gies ‘23 2G/4A, Cunningham ‘24 3G/1A, O’Leary ‘23 1G/1A, English ‘23 1G/2A, Moore ‘23 1G, Spring ‘24 8GB, Lalond ‘25 14 saves