Rams Split With St. John the Baptist and #9 Chaminade, Head to R.I. This Week

The Rams went 1 - 1 last week out on Long Island, taking home a solid win against St. John the Baptist and falling to #9 ranked Chaminade.  The Rams spotted SJB a three goal lead, looking like they “were still on the bus,” but played arguably their best two quarters of the season in the second half, dominating the Cougars after being tied 6 - 6 at halftime.  Fordham used a 6 - 0 third quarter to put the game away and extended its lead through the fourth quarter to win 16 - 8.  The 16 goals matched the season high and the performance was a total team effort - winning over 80% of faceoffs, winning the groundball battle 37 to 21, going three for four on man-up, 75% success rate on clears.  Drew Pagen ‘26 (Rye) and Rory McGrath ‘25 (Rye) led the scoring with 6G/2A and 3G, respectively, while Jakob Gilbert ‘26 (Bedford) scooped up 8GBs helping setup many of the scores.

The loss to Chaminade went about as you would expect against the #2 ranked team in the state and #9 nationally.  A squad chock full of top shelf commits playing at the next level was too much for the Prep to keep up with, but was still valuable for the boys to play against that level of program.  

After a week of some much needed rest, following six games in ten days, the team heads up to Rhode Island Thursday to play three games in the Providence area.  Moses Brown (4 - 1) and Barrington HS (3 - 1) are ranked #2 and #3 in in the state, according to Laxnumbers.com, while Bishop Hendrickson (1 - 4) is ranked #7, with losses to Moses Brown and Barrington.  It will be the first time the Prep will play all three schools.  The boys will also be heading to see Providence College versus St. John’s Friday night in a Big East showdown.

Last week we missed acknowledging John Denning ‘28’s (Bronxville) first career goal.  Congrats to John on the milestone and looking forward to many more.

We are holding our lacrosse program recruiting event for 6th and 7th graders on Friday, May 16th at the Prep.  The event is a great way for families to be introduced to the school and our lacrosse program, as well as hear firsthand all that we offer.  We had great feedback on our first one last year, so spread the word and interested families can register (here).

St. John the Baptist Recap:  W 16 - 8

SJB opened the scoring on its first possession and extended the lead to three on a man-up opportunity and another score at the 7:27 mark.  Ryan Bracchitta ‘27 (Scarsdale) got the Prep on the board with 3:57 remaining off a high-to-high snipe from up top but the Cougars answered right away to make it 4 - 1, where it stayed at the end of one quarter.  The Rams came alive in the second quarter starting with a Dima Athanason ‘26 (Mamaroneck) strike off an Aidan Pymm ‘27 (Rye) assist.  A man-up goal by Pymm ‘27 brought the Prep within one and a great check by him on a ride popped the ball into Drew Pagen ‘27’s stick for a goal to tie it 4 - 4 with 5:26 to go in the half.  The Cougars took the lead back a minute later but Athanason ‘25 and Rory McGrath ‘25 netted two straight to give the Prep its first lead 6 - 5 with just over two minutes to go.  A late one from SJB tied it at 6 - 6 at the half.

The proverbial floodgates opened in the third quarter as the Prep scored four straight over the first nine minutes of the quarter and six overall, including three from Pagen ‘27.  In the fourth, Fordham made it 13 - 6 with 6:40 remaining when Pymm ‘27 found McGrath ‘25 for his second tally of the game.  After another by Pagen ‘27 the Cougars stopped the bleeding by scoring their seventh goal with 5:30 left, but Pagen ‘27’s sixth and McGrath 25’s third of the day brought the score to 16 - 7.  A late SJB tally made it a 16 - 8 final.

Stat Line:  Pagen ‘26 6G/2A/7GB, McGrath ‘25 3G, Athanason ‘26 2G, Bracchitta ‘27 2G, Remhild ‘25 1G/1A,  Zarkowski ‘25 1G/1A, Pymm ‘27 1G/3A, Waters ‘27 1A, Gilbert ‘26 8GB, Iannarone ‘27 5GB/13FOW (87%), Villani ‘25 5FOW (83%), Berner ‘27 9 saves