Rams Drop First Two, Half Hollow Hills and Poly Prep This Week
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The Fordham Prep lacrosse season started with two tough losses to Belen Jesuit (FL) and Mountain Vista (CO). Both opponents had already played a combined 14 games before facing the Rams, and the experience showed in both contests. Fordham and Belen were tied 1 - 1 through the first quarter and things remained tight as the Rams took a 3 - 2 lead into the half off of a Drew Pagen ‘26 (Rye) goal. Penalties in the fourth quarter gave the Wolverines a chunk of man-up opportunities, which they took advantage of, building a two goal lead they never gave up to take the win 9 - 7. In the second game, both defenses set the tone early as Mountain Vista had a 1 - 0 lead after a quarter but then opened up the scoring taking 5 -1 and 8 - 2 leads at the half and end of the third quarter. A fourth quarter push by the Rams was not enough as the Golden Eagle’s came away with a 10 - 5 win.
Congratulations to Paul Olivo ‘26 (Crestwood) and Aidan Pymm ‘27 (Rye), who notched their first career goals in the games. Pymm ‘27 has 75 more to go to surpass his father's early 1990s career tally at St. Mary’s on Long Island. My money’s on the younger Pymm for eventual family bragging rights. Olivo ‘26 doesn’t have as much wood to chop to best his father, FP Class of 1994. A faceoff guy, before the “GO” in FOGO was even a thing, the senior Olivo ‘94 was known more for his physical defensive play. Anyone who can guess how many career goals he had gets a Prep lacrosse hat.
Looking ahead to this week, the Prep continues its homestand hosting Half Hollow Hills of Long Island tomorrow before heading out to Brooklyn to face Poly Prep on Wednesday. This will be the first matchup between HHH and the Rams with the Thunderbirds coming off an 18 - 2 2024 season including a spot in the NY state playoffs. HHH is currently 1 - 0 with an 11 - 7 win over Mamaroneck. The game against the Rams will be Poly Prep’s opener. An annual opponent in the 1990s and 2000s, this will be only the second time the schools have played each other since 2007 with the Rams taking a 13 - 12 victory last year (recap).
Congrats to the Junior Varsity squad who opened the season in dominating fashion beating Monsignor Farrell 19 - 0. Congrats to Peter Olivo ‘28 (Crestwood) and Sean Hyland ‘28 (New Rochelle) who combined for the shutout in goal. The team is now 1 - 1 following a 10 - 2 loss to Stepinac on Saturday.
As we mentioned in last week’s season preview (here), the team schedules are up on the Top Corner Club website and can be found here - Varsity, Junior Varsity.
Belen Jesuit Recap: L 9 - 7
The Rams found themselves man-up three minutes in and took advantage as Dima Athanason ‘26 (Mamaroneck) fed from X to a cutting Sebastian Zarkowski ‘25 (Hastings-on-Hudson) to start the scoring. The Prep continued with four or five solid possessions, helped by strong rides, but the Belen goalie stymied each one with a save. The Wolverines then tied it up off a fast break with three minutes left in the quarter. The defenses wouldn’t give anything for the first half of the second quarter until Ryan Bracchitta ‘27 (Scarsdale) swept across the top and dished to a wide open Athanason ‘26 who beat the goalie up high with a lefty blast from 15 yards out. A minute later the Rams took a 3 - 1 lead off a great ride and a Drew Pagen ‘26 (Rye) groundball and goal. A late goal by Belen made the score 3 - 2 at the half.
The second half scoring started two and a half minutes in off a restart from the end line when Athanason ‘26 once again found Zarkowski ‘26 up top who beat the Wolverine keeper. The Rams extended the lead to 5 - 2 off a scrappy Carter Remhild ‘25 (Manhattan) groundball and fastbreak finding Aidan Pymm ‘27 who deked the Belen goalie with a nifty dip move and finished top corner. The Wolverines answered immediately on their next possession and then rattled off three more to take their first lead 6 - 5 with two minutes left in the third quarter. It was short lived as early in the fourth quarter with the Prep man-down Zarkowski ‘25 beat his double team at midfield and ran through the Belen defense unassisted to tie the game. The Wolverines took the lead again on a man-up possession with nine minutes remaining, but Pagen ‘26 and the Rams knotted the contest back up 7 - 7 two minutes later. The lead went back to Belen at the five minute mark following a quick restart fastbreak goal. The Prep had few chances in the waning minutes to equalize but couldn’t convert and Belen milked the clock and dumped in a final last man-up goal to take the 9 - 7 victory.
Stat Line: Zarkowski ‘25 3G, Pagen ‘26 2G, Pymm ‘27 1G, Athanason ‘26 1G/2A, Bracchitta ‘27 1A, Gilbert ‘26 (Bedford) 6GB, Brock ‘25 4GB, Berner ‘27 12 saves
Mountain Vista Recap: L 10 - 5
The Rams started off strong on their first possession but came up empty after hitting the pipe once and the Golden Eagles’ goalie made two solid saves. Cash Berner ‘27 (Rye) returned the favor with three terrific saves of his own, keeping the game scoreless early. The Prep had some more chances during the quarter but the Mountain Vista goalie kept notching saves, however the defensive stalemate ended with a minute left when the Golden Eagles broke the ice. The second quarter started the same way with both goalies denying their opponents until Mountain Vista dropped another two minutes in and then followed up with three more straight to take a 5 - 0 lead halfway through the second quarter. The Prep finally got the board with two minutes left when Drew Pagen ‘26 scooped up the ball behind the goal and found Paul Olivo ‘26 wide open on the crease to dump it in and cut the lead to 5 - 1 at the half.
The Golden Eagles added to their lead right out of the gates in the second half with three quick scores until a great Pagen ‘26 ride led to Dima Athanason ‘26 picking off a pass and dumping it in to make it 8 - 2. Another heads up play on a ride by Bobby Brock ‘25 (Valhalla) four minutes later allowed Pagen ‘26 to scoop up the ball and dump it in for the Rams’ third goal. Thirty seconds later Ryan Brachhitta ‘27 beat his man top side and rifled a one bouncer to bring the score to 8 - 4. That was the closest the Prep got as a Mountain Vista man-up goal at five minutes left extended the lead to five again until Athanason ‘26 notched his first from a Carter Remhild ‘25 feed. A late goal from the Golden Eagles made it a 10 - 5 final.
Stat Line: Athanason ‘26 2G, Pagen ‘26 1G, Bracchitta ‘27 1G, Olivo ‘26 1G, Remhild ‘25 1A, Gilbert ‘26 3GB, Berner ‘27 9 saves