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It wasn’t a surprise to see Robbie Johnson trotting out to the faceoff stripe for the game’s first faceoff Wednesday as St. Anthony’s visited Chaminade in the latest edition of one of the country’s top rivalries.
The Long Island Express standout and North Carolina signee has long been considered one of the top faceoff midfielders in the class of 2026. He’s part of a loaded senior class for the Friars, and it’s finally his time to shine at the faceoff stripe. He just hasn’t been healthy for the past two years, dealing with a frustrating string of injuries that have kept him off the field.
Last year, he came back and took some faceoffs in the title game against the Flyers. He took a little more than half of the faceoffs in this season’s opener against Culver, but he was admittedly disappointed with his performance. Wednesday, though, he looked like the Robbie Johnson of old. The future Tar Heel won 15 of 21 faceoffs and scored on the first faceoff of the second half to help the Friars topple the Flyers, 11-9.
“It feels great,” Johnson said. “Trying to get back out here took me a while. I’ve been doing rehab for a year now. After that (Culver) loss, this felt really good for the team. I was just thinking through the half that I didn’t do my greatest, so I knew I was just going to take over in the second half.”
Tar Heel Takeover
Fellow four-star North Carolina signee Charlie Cacciabaudo gave the Friars a boost with a gorgeous man-down goal to bring St. Anthony’s to within 5-3 at the half. Johnson kept the party going on the first faceoff of the second half. He sprung forward and got the ground ball, then buried a bouncer right over five-star Notre Dame signee Kieran Walsh‘s leg. Johnson took a slightly late hit on the play to draw a flag, which then led to goals from sophomore Aidan Dale and Cacciabaudo. From there, St. Anthony’s capped a 7-0 run and never looked back to cement the win.
“They didn’t slide too quick, so I knew I was going to shoot it right away,” Johnson said.
Johnson did his damage against a trio of opponents in Harry Walsh (Merchant Marine), George Mavlios (Rutgers) and LSM Matt Ofsie (High Point). He won the first five second-half faceoffs en route to an 8-for-11 half. For the Friars, it’s encouraging to see him back and moving toward being back to his usual dominant self, particularly as they take on another stout national schedule.
It helps to get a big game from Cacciabaudo, who finished with a team-best four goals. Cacciabaudo’s ability to change the game while only having the ball in his stick for split seconds at a time is unique and uncanny. He works so well off the ball and is able to catch and finish everything.
Flyers Aim to Take Off on May 13
Chaminade jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the first half on two goals from five-star John Balsamo (Virginia) and a goal and an assist from both Brendan Sim (Cornell) and James Gillis (Duke). But Cacciabaudo and Johnson’s play helped start the Friar comeback, and it was Cacciabaudo’s fourth. of the game that officially shut the door. The Flyers already have their sights set on May 13th’s rematch.
“We’ve got to play more resilient together,” Balsamo said. “The focus is onward and upward together. We’re focused on the next day and getting one percent better. We’re moving forward together. That’s the message. We play together on defense and when we’re clicking together as a unit on offense, we have something special. We have to harness that on both sides of the field and continue that for four quarters.”
St. Anthony’s vs. Chaminade Standouts
John Balsamo ’26, attack, Chaminade (N.Y.) / Long Island Express – Virginia
Balsamo led all players with five points, including a quartet of goals that showed off his versatility. He got things going with a great off-ball cut in sync with a sweep from four-star junior Brendan Sim (Long Island Express / Cornell). Sim made a smart feed inside to Balsamo, who snapped home a low shot for the game’s first goal. The five-star Virginia signee gave the Flyers their biggest lead of the game on a man-up stepdown. Later, he pulled off nasty hitch-and-go from the wing to complete the hat trick. Balsamo saved the best for last with a hard take from X, complete with a diving backhander, to finish off his game. He’s playing in different spots – including some sets as the Chaminade crease guy – than he did a year ago, and he’s one of the most versatile offensive weapons in the senior class.
Ben Bekiers ’26, SSDM, Chaminade (N.Y.) / Team 91 Long Island – Boston University
Bekiers shows up on here for the second time in two weeks because he finds a way to make plays from his SSDM spot. He plays with the requisite aggression and pitbull attitude, and the future Terrier just always seems to find a way to make plays. He had an excellent user pick in the first when he drove on an errant pass like a free safety and easily hoofed it downfield for the clear. Omnipresent around the ball, Bekiers always brings high intensity and an in-your-face game.
Ethan Bramoff ’26, LSM/defense, St. Anthony’s (N.Y.) / Long Island Express – Maryland
The St. Anthony’s defense looked so different than it did in its season-opening loss to Culver (Ind.), and Bramoff was a big reason why. He once again drew the matchup of Express teammate James Gillis (Duke). Gillis decisively won the regular-season matchup in 2025. Perhaps not so coincidentally, the Flyers won that game. It was a little more even in last spring’s championship game, won by the Friars. This time, though, Bramoff limited Gillis to one goal and one assist. Bramoff did an excellent job of staying patient and matching feet, and while he’s an elite takeaway artist, he showed great restraint on when he went for big checks. There’s some debate about where Bramoff best fits in college, but he’s the Friars’ No. 1 cover man down low this year. Wednesday, he showed why.
Charlie Cacciabaudo ’26, attack, St. Anthony’s (N.Y.) / Long Island Express – North Carolina
Blink and you’ll miss Cacciabaudo scoring another goal. The ball is rarely in his stick, but he makes such an impact when he’s dialed in. He was the St. Anthony’s offensive ringleader against the Flyers. It was his man-down backhand transition goal that sparked the Friars’ comeback. He showed off a lot of his deep bag of tricks, including a tough rebound goal after an impressive Kieran Walsh (Long Island Express / Notre Dame) save. Cacciabaudo showed off his quick hands again by converting on a slick feed from Dylan Harrigan (Long Island Express / Maryland) feed. He iced the game on a quick-stick late off of a Danny Rooney (Maryland) hangup at X. Cacciabaudo feels open space before it’s there, and he only needs a split second to catch and finish.
“(The man-down goal) gave us a lot of juice. It gave us the momentum going into the third quarter,” Cacciabaudo said. “Obviously, the loss against Culver was tough, but this game is the only one that matters. This one and the one in May, and we won. That’s all that matters.”
Dylan Rappaport ’26, goalie, St. Anthony’s (N.Y.) / Long Island Express – Loyola
Statistically, Rappaport was good but didn’t blow anyone away with his seven saves. Rather, it’s the timeliness of his saves that deflated the Flyers for the second meeting in a row. Last May, he came on at halftime and reversed the Friars’ fortunes with some huge saves. This time, he accelerated the process with when he made his saves. He stymied a good Will Ferraro-Reich (Richmond) look after Cacciabaudo had given St. Anthony’s its first lead at 6-5. Rappaport made another save in tight and followed it up shortly after on a point-blank look from Michael Mayerhofer (Towson) to keep the game at 8-5. Navy-bound defenseman Pat Heron then put the finishing touches on a 7-0 Friars run that essentially cemented the game. The 6-3 Rappaport was very good once again on low shots and cleared up some of his clearing mistakes from the opener against Culver.
Additional Notes
- The Friars and Flyers each have one of the two best class of 2028 midfielders – players? – on Long Island. Both Aidan Dale (St. Anthony’s / Long Island Express) and Ben Hristoforatos (Chaminade / Team 91 Long Island) showed glimpses of why they’ll be hot commodities this fall. Dale scored another big goal for the Friars, a man-up rip from the wing to tie the game at 5. Still absurdly fast, in case you were wondering, and it’s impressive to see him earn so much playing time so quickly on a loaded St. Ant’s offense.
- Hristoforatos put one of the best defensive midfielders in the country on his highlight tape with a gorgeous individual effort to stop a 7-0 run. He played in the first two games as a defensive midfielder before breaking out for five goals, including the overtime game-winner, in a win against Saint Andrew’s (Fla.). Hristoforatos is up to seven goals in his past three games, and at this point, it’s probably safe to say we’ve seen the last of his D-middie days as a Flyer.
- It’s nice to see struggling programs like St. Anthony’s and Chaminade finally start to get some young talent in the pipeline.
- St. Anthony’s got four goals from Cacciabaudo, three points from Rooney and two from Harrigan, but the Friars also got tallies from Johnson and Heron. Both of those came in the game-changing 7-0 run. Great to get offense from the expected, but it’s such a tide-turner when you can get juice goals from outside of the starting six offensive guys.
- Chaminade struggled at the faceoff stripe, but senior pole Matthew Ofsie (High Point) gave the Flyers a bit of a boost there by winning two of four faceoffs. More importantly, he competed hard and even his losses were competitive 3v3 affairs, which is all you can ask from a pole.