Prep Wins Two, Now 5 - 1; Bronxville, King School, and Chaminade This Week

“Groundballs win games” is a phrase we try to instill in even the youngest of players we coach and the Prep’s two games this past week were a testament to that mantra.  The Rams scooped up 51 (to Poly Prep’s 22) and 38 (to Riverdale’s 14) groundballs, which alongside continued dominance at the faceoff-X by James Spring ‘24 (Bronxville) - 87% win percentage, Fordham had plenty of possessions to get the ball in the net and come away with two wins.  There was lots of action early against Poly Prep, as the teams combined for ten goals in the first quarter with the Rams taking a 6 - 4 lead after one.  The Blue Devils scored three unanswered to take the lead in the second quarter before Drew Pagen ‘26 (Rye) tied the game at seven late in the half.  Down two goals late in the fourth quarter, the long poles and goalie Griffin Cooleen ‘25 (Briarcliff) shut down Poly while the Rams leaned on Spring ‘24 down the stretch, getting Fordham the ball and allowing the offense to score three straight to win the game 13 - 12.

Riverdale Country School came out of the gates quick, getting up 2 - 0 early, but Cooleen ‘26 and the defense of Jack Lucchese ‘24 (Somers), Patrick O’Driscoll ‘24 (Manhattan), Bobby Brock ‘25 (Valhalla), Rory McGrath ‘25 (Rye), Parker Kortye ‘26 (Manhattan), and Jakob Gilbert ‘26 (Bedford) shutout the Falcons over the next two plus quarters as the Rams built a 6 - 2 lead.  Fordham owned the fourth quarter as they netted four more to Riverdale’s two to take the 10 - 4 victory.

The Prep now enters the meat of its schedule including facing Bronxville today, a team that has beaten the Rams the past three meetings after falling to Fordham in 2018 and 2019.  The Broncos are one of the strongest teams in the area and are 2 - 3 with an overtime win over Yorktown and a 10 - 8 win over Stepinac, as well as losses to Iona Prep and Pleasantville.  Thursday brings the first ever matchup with the King School (CT), who is currently 5 - 1 against its New England Prep School league counterparts.  On Saturday Fordham has its toughest test so far in national power Chaminade (Inside Lacrosse nationally ranked #21) out on Long Island.  The Flyers are 3 - 3 with wins over Ward Melville, St. Ignatius Prep (CA), and Fairfield Prep (CT), and losses to McDonogh (MA), Salesianum (DE), and St. Anthony’s.

Congratulations to Cooleen ‘26 for registering his first win in goal versus Poly, as well as Carter Remhild ‘25 (Manhattan) and Eamonn Curry ‘24 (Harrison) for scoring their first career goal and assist, respectively.  Congrats as well to Jackson Gafner ‘25 (Manhattan) and Will Freel ‘26 (Manhattan) on registering their first career goals in the Riverdale game.  Apologies for neglecting to highlight, and belated congrats, to Nicholas Marciano ‘26 (Eastchester) on tallying his first career point against Columbus.

Poly Prep Recap: W 13 - 12

Poly jumped on the Rams early, scoring in the first minute but the Prep answered on its next possession, patiently working the ball around until Sebastian Zarkowski ‘25 (Hastings-on-Hudson) snuck a bouncer in.  Fordham followed up off the ensuing faceoff when James Spring ‘24 started a fast break, finding PJ Cunningham ‘24 (Bronx) to make it 2 -1 two and a half minutes into the start.  The Blue Devils then scored off a rebound in front of the cage with 6:13 remaining to make it 2 - 2.  Multiple saves by both goalies kept it knotted up until Eamonn Curry ‘24 dished to Drew Pagen ‘26 on the doorstep to give the Prep a one goal lead again.  Off an unsettled situation at midfield Poly grabbed the groundball and headed to the goal to tie it up with 2:10 left.  Riding hard, a yard sale wrap check Cunningham ‘24 got the Rams possession and after a restart from behind the goal, Pagen ‘26 drove around and beat the goalie at 1:16 for 4 - 3 Prep lead.  A nice swim move and high bouncer by Poly tied it again with 31 to go in the quarter.  Playing until the whistle, Spring ‘24 picked up a scrappy groundball and off a nice hitch move deposited the ball with 5.4 seconds left and Carter Remhild ‘25 scooped up the ensuing faceoff and took it to the cage to fire one in as time expired and give the Prep a 6 - 4 lead at end of the first quarter.

Poly scored three minutes into the second quarter to cut lead to one and Fordham couldn’t convert on a long possession allowing the Blue Devils to tie it up 6 - 6 at 4:50 left.  A minute later Poly added a fast break goal to take its first lead of the game until Pagen ‘26 netted his third at 2:38 to even it up.  A Rams man-up at one minute left in the half came up empty handed leaving it 7 - 7 at the break.  Strong defense on both sides kept it even for the first three and half minutes of the third quarter until the Blue Devils regained the lead at the 8:32 mark.  With 5:28 left Pagen ‘26 registered his fourth goal but both defense and goalies took over yielding nothing the rest of the way for an 8 - 8 score after three quarters.  The tie didn’t last long into the final quarter as Poly scored in the first minute and took its lead to two goals, 10 - 8, two minutes later.  The teams traded goals before Pagen ‘26 got the Rams within one at 7:12 left and a Zarkowski ‘25 rip tied it up once again.  The Blue Devils snuck one in at 4:02 bringing the score to 12 - 11 but Spring ‘24 took the faceoff downfield and found Dima Athanson ‘26 (Mamaroneck) who buried a lefty shot.  Seconds later Ryan Bracchitta ‘27 (Scarsdale) buried a bouncer past the Poly goalie to make it 13 - 12 in favor of the Prep.   Poly had possession the last minute of the game, firing off four shots, but couldn’t score, thwarted by a big save by Griffin Cooleen ‘26 with seven seconds left.

Stat Line:  Spring ‘24 2G/3A/24FOW (86%)/20GB, Pagen ‘26 4G, Zarkowski ‘25 2G/1A/4GB, Leddy 1G/1A/4GB, Cunningham ‘24 1G/1A/3GB, Remhild ‘25 1G/4GB, Athanson ‘26 1G, Bracchitta ‘27 1G, Curry ‘24 1A, Cooleen ‘26 14 saves

Riverdale Country School Recap:  W 10 - 4

Riverdale scored on its first possession and took an early 2 - 0 lead less than three minutes into the game until Will Leddy ‘24 (White Plains) snuck it to James Spring ‘24 on the high crease to make it 2 - 1 at the 8:13 mark.  The Rams tied it up two minutes later on a PJ Cunningham ‘24 sidearm blast and 30 seconds later Cunningham ‘24 found a cutting Jackson Gafner ‘25 (Manhattan) to take the lead 3 - 2, where it stayed at quarter end.  The Prep defense, including three big saves from Griffon Cooleen ‘26, kept the lead at one for the first six and a half minutes of the second quarter until Wil Freel ‘26 (Manhattan) fed from behind the cage a cutting Spring ‘24 to extend the lead to 4 - 2.  Neither team was able to do much offensively for the rest of the quarter as the Rams took the two goal lead into  the half.

A couple solid saves by the Falcons goalie thwarted the Rams first few possessions of the half and a man-down stop by the Prep led to a Sean McCuin ‘25 (Bronxville) groundball and clear, which set up a Drew Pagen ‘26 assist to Cunningham ‘24 for Fordham’s fifth goal with 8:33 left in the third.  Riverdale finally got on the board again at the 5:57 mark, after not scoring since early in the first quarter, to cut the lead to 5 - 3.  A great ride by the Rams resulted in Sebastian Zarkowski ‘26 flipping the ball to Cunningham ‘24 who got a worm burner past the Riverdale keeper to make it 6 - 3 at the end of three quarters.  Things got a bit chippy in the fourth quarter and goals by Zarkowski ‘26 and Cunnigham ‘24 took the lead to 8 - 3, putting the Falcons away midway through the fourth quarter.  Pagen ‘26 and Freel ‘26 tallies, and a late one from Riverdale, made it a 10 - 4 final.

Stat Line:  Cunningham ‘24 4G/1A/2GB, Spring ‘24 2G/2A/14FOW (88%)/11GB, Zarkowski ‘25 1G/2A/2GB, Gafner ‘25 1G, Freel ‘26 1G/1A, Pagen ‘26 1G/1A, Leddy ‘24 2A/1GB, McGrath ‘25 4GB, Bracchitta 4GB, Lucchese ‘24 3GB, Remhild ‘25 3GB, Gilbert ‘26 3GB, Cooleen ‘26 12 saves