Cherry Hill East boys’ lacrosse senior Brandon Stern has been through it all in his four years with the Cougars.
As a freshman on varsity, Stern was part of an experienced nine-win team, the most wins in a single season in the program’s history.
Stern’s following two seasons, however, were a struggle. With many players from the 2012 team lost to graduation, the Cougars failed to win nine games combined in 2013 and 2014.
This season, however, Cherry Hill East is on a tear. The team won its first seven games and is closing in on its first double-digit win season in the program’s 11-year history.
Stern has played a huge role on the team this season, leading the Cougars with 18 goals and 11 assists in the first seven games. The senior tallied his 100th career goal as part of a four-goal, two-assist game against Eastern last Monday. Stern’s offensive output guided Cherry Hill East to a 12–10 win.
Stern credits the Cougars’ fast start to the core of the team having played together for the last three years.
“We’re a really close group of kids,” Stern said. “All of the juniors and seniors have been together since my sophomore year. We’ve had a lot of chemistry and time to work together.”
Head coach Erick Wood has been with the team for more than a decade. He feels the group has grown substantially the past few years.
“These kids have really developed and grown together,” he said.
Stern’s journey through the Cougars’ lacrosse program is a testament to the team’s growth. Stern is a two-sport athlete, having played football since kindergarten. Stern didn’t begin playing lacrosse until sixth grade, but it quickly evolved into his favorite sport.
“Football was always that sport for me, and then lacrosse came and I fell in love with it,” he said. “Early in high school, I realized I could go to college for lacrosse.”
Stern entered the Cherry Hill East program as a freshman with only three years of playing experience under his belt. However, he made varsity his freshman year and had an immediate impact, scoring 15 goals in 2012.
Beyond his on-the-field contributions, Stern said playing on varsity his freshman year helped him develop into the player he is today.
“Starting as a freshman helped me with experience leading up to this now,” he said. “That senior leadership kind of paved the way for us as leaders and showed us how to be successful. With the knowledge I was able to learn from those seniors, I kind of learned their work ethic and what it meant to be an athlete in high school.”
Despite the team’s struggles the last two years, Stern became a force on the field. He led the Cougars with a combined 69 goals in those two seasons.
Stern doesn’t look back on the last two seasons negatively. He said the losses helped him learn about what it takes to be successful.
“After being a four-year starter and being with the team for all four years and being there during the best of times and the worst of times, I feel like it’s been my job to show the underclassmen and the rest of the older players who haven’t been here as long what it takes to be committed to this team,” he said.
Stern will continue his lacrosse career at Penn State next year. Stern said a number of factors helped make Penn State the right fit for him, both academically and athletically.
“I feel Penn State will challenge me academically,” he said. “I love the coaches and I love the atmosphere there, and it’s close enough to home where I can travel and my parents can watch me play there.”
Before heading off to Happy Valley, however, Stern has some unfinished business to take care of with the Cougars. He said the team’s early season winning streak has given it the confidence it needs to make a run during the playoffs in May.
“We’re starting off on a good pace right now and our practices have been really good,” he said. “So nothing’s going to change. Our mentality going into game’s is not going to change.”
