RFH boys lacrosse begins season, hopes to surpass last year’s efforts
RUMSON, N.J. — The Rumson-Fair Haven boys’ lacrosse team began practice on March 16, and their first game was on April 3. The team looks forward to pushing through another impressive season packed with strong competition against programs from all over the state. Their goal is to play as many days and games as they can, which would carry them through to June 17, just a few days before the seniors would be walking in their graduation.
Head Coach Marc Moreau has been coaching lacrosse since 1990, and before his coaching career began he had his own onfield lacrosse career, during which he played at Rutgers University. Before coming to Rumson-Fair Haven, Moreau coached at several other accomplished programs, including in Metuchen and Bernardsville, as well as an assistant coach at Rutgers and Manhattanville College. But he attributes the best years of his coaching career to his last seven seasons at RFH.
“Overall, the community is super supportive of everything at the high school,” Moreau said. “RFH is good at everything. No athletic season goes by that RFH isn’t competing in a championship game or for a conference title.”
For the last two years the lacrosse team has played in the group finals, and last year the boys lost in overtime of the final game in the Tournament of Champions to Mountain Lakes. Coach Moreau spoke about the importance of the team feeling unified and everyone feeling important in their own role as a player, friend, classmate, and teammate, and highlighted the integral ways each student-athlete is responsible for the way they affect the overall cohesion of the team.
“It’s really the commitment of the boys off the field and their creation of an inclusive environment for our team that makes our team so unified,” Moreau said. “Everyone knows how influential they are to the success of the team, whether you’re keeping the sidelines engaged during games, being a scout team player in practice, or being on the field and having a productive role in that way.”
Three years ago, the team formed a book club that they participate in during the offseason, where they primarily read Jon Gordon books. Jon Gordon is an alumnus of the Cornell University lacrosse program that has published several bestselling books primarily centered around leadership, teamwork, and the importance of a positive attitude. The boys have read The Energy Bus and The Hard Hat in the past and read Row the Boat this past offseason. Each year, a few of the student-athletes give presentations on what they’ve learned from the chosen book for the given offseason.
“We were lucky in that we had Jon Gordon sit in on a few of the presentations the boys gave over Zoom, and I’ve seen the lessons his books have taught them carry over into the way they interact with each other, the way they play on the field, and the way it enhances the overall chemistry of the team,” Coach Moreau said.
Coming off of a strong season after playing in the final game of the Tournament of Champions, Moreau expects the team to have tough competition throughout the season, including in scrimmages even at the beginning of the season. Despite the tough loss last season, the team will look to continue building and improving upon the strides the program has made in the past few years and incorporating the ideals and lessons the offseason books have taught them.
Moreau praised the exceptional leadership of each player on the team and commended Yale University commit Cole Cashion, University of Virginia commit Luke Jamin, Villanova University commit Beau Kemler, and Colby College commit Will Rehder on their phenomenal work and attitudes, both academically and athletically. Good luck this season Dawgs!
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