The Rochester Knighthawks are 2-0 heading into the holiday break. Despite starting the season with two bye weeks, the team has hit the ground running and may even have benefited from the early break.
Last Saturday, the Knighthawks hosted the Philadelphia Wings in their home opener. It was the first home game under the new ownership of the Seneca Nation, and you could feel it in the building. From the moment the lights went down and the opening videos started on the videoboard, a new energy was at Segar & Sciortino Field at The Blue Cross Arena. It was going to be a night when the Haudenosaunee National players in Rochester were going to thrive.
Before the game, the arena took a moment of silence to honor the life of Noah Snyder. Noah was a college lacrosse player at Marquette, a member of the U20 Haudenosaunee National Team, and a dynamic box lacrosse player in the Upstate Collegiate Box Lacrosse League. He’s also the stepson of Zed Williams.
“Noah worked so hard,” Williams said. “He deserved to be glorified, so I was really appreciative of that.”
ROCHESTER, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 20 :: Rochester Knighthawks v Philadelphia Wings :: December 20, 2025 in Blue Cross Arena, Rochester, NY, USA (Photo by Micheline Veluvolu)
The game began following a ceremonial faceoff with traditional wooden sticks, the ball having been dropped by Williams’ brother, Cattaraugus Councilor Jonathan D. Williams. Four minutes into the game, Zed drove to the middle of the floor and set a pick on his defender to create space for himself. It took no time at all after that for the NLL MVP Connor Fields to find his stick and allow Williams to score his first goal as a Knighthawk. That sparked a three-goal run that put Rochester in the driver’s seat for the rest of the night.
“I just let the game come to me and just play,” Williams said about opening the scoring at home. “I try to attack downhill a lot, and whatever happens, happens. I have the same mindset every time; I just happened to be open in the middle.”
Philadelphia Wings @ Rochester Knighthawks 12/20/25 (Credit: Jonathan Tenca/NLL)
“I think it’s really special,” Knighthawks head coach Mike Hasen said. “It’s a special night, and just what he’s gone through in the last little while… I can’t even imagine. This is what this game does: it just allows us to heal and move forward. It was great that he got us started, and he set the tone for us right off the bat.”
A member of the Seneca Nation scoring the first goal at home under the new ownership isn’t where the storybook game ends, though. The game had even more to offer. Fields had a performance that almost doubled his output in game one, scoring five goals and notching six assists. His 11 points are the most by any player this season through the first four weeks. In the second half, he factored in on all but one Knighthawks goal. By the time he was done scoring for the night, Rochester led 14-8.
It wasn’t just Fields that put up numbers on Saturday. Ryan Lanchbury continued his assisting dominance with seven helpers in the home opener. He now leads the NLL in assists while playing a game less than many in the league. Ryan Smith added two goals and two assists while four other Knighthawks forwards, Williams (2+1), Thomas McConvey (1+2), Kyle Waters (1+1), and Graydon Hogg (1+1), each had multipoint nights.
Philadelphia Wings @ Rochester Knighthawks 12/20/25 (Credit: Jonathan Tenca/NLL)
The offense wasn’t the only group putting the ball in the back of the net, though. Throughout the game, five of the Knighthawks’ 15 goals were scored in transition. Jake Piseno factored in on four of them. Not only did he factor in, but he notched the first hat trick of his professional lacrosse career.
“I think that was my first hat trick in a professional setting,” Piseno said. “I had a couple of hat tricks in sixes last summer, but yeah, it definitely felt good. Once I got that last one, the goal felt pretty big, and I was just taking my chances. The coaches obviously have that trust in me to push and take chances, so I let the third one go. It was a really good feeling to get that one in and celebrate with my teammates in front of that home crowd.”
ROCHESTER, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 20 :: Rochester Knighthawks v Philadelphia Wings :: December 20, 2025 in Blue Cross Arena, Rochester, NY, USA (Photo by Micheline Veluvolu)
Piseno assisted on the second goal of the night and scored Rochester’s fourth, sixth, and 15th in transition. He didn’t only light up the score sheet; he also put up a career-high nine loose-ball recoveries. That led the game, tied only with Wings faceoff specialist Nick Rowlett. His impressive night didn’t end there, though. Despite starting in only his 10th NLL regular season game, Piseno was tasked with matching up against forward Brennan O’Neill, one of the world’s best in the field game, and a rising star in the NLL. Piseno held him off the score sheet for the first 25 minutes of the game.
“He’s got great feet and great athleticism,” Hasen said about Piseno following the Wings game. “And he’s got a really good IQ for playing D, but also getting up the floor. We tasked him tonight to find 34 (O’Neill) as much as he possibly could, and that’s his maturity as he’s been growing. A young guy that can match feet, maybe not size, but he has the ability to stay with one of the big boys and shut him down. I thought we did a really good job with him starting it, and the rest of us supporting.”
ROCHESTER, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 20 :: Rochester Knighthawks v Philadelphia Wings :: December 20, 2025 in Blue Cross Arena, Rochester, NY, USA (Photo by Micheline Veluvolu)
The excitement for Rochester fans in the stands still wasn’t over after Piseno’s goal with 3:30 left to play in the fourth. On the following faceoff, a pile-up happened at the spot of a loose ball, and both teams ended up tying up with each other, ready for a full-floor brawl. What happened instead, nobody could’ve written.
Rochester goaltender Rylan Hartley, coming off the best game of his career in San Diego, locked eyes with Philadelphia goaltender Nick Damude. The two met at the center of the floor, and everyone in the crowd and on the turf locked their eyes on the two goalies tossing off their chest protectors.
“I’ve seen a couple,” Williams said about Hartley and Damude’s goalie fight. “But that was a good one, by far probably the best goalie fight I’ve seen.”
Hartley gave Rochester a memory for the history books on Segar & Sciortino Field. He gave a hug and words of encouragement to his goaltending partner, Riley Hutchcraft, before he left the floor for the locker room.
Philadelphia Wings @ Rochester Knighthawks 12/20/25 (Credit: Jonathan Tenca/NLL)
“With Zed opening up the scoring and Fieldsy having his regular day of points, honestly, it’s a season high for the NLL, but he’s doing that on a weekly basis,” Piseno said about the game as a whole. “Me having a hat trick and the game that I did, and then Hartley capping it all off with the fight at the end. It was definitely a great momentum boost for us.”
“Having a 2-0 start, we have all the momentum in the world,” Piseno continued. “So, we just gotta keep going one step at a time, and the new ownership is definitely huge for us, and I think it’s gonna work out in our favor for sure. I’m very happy the Seneca Nation is on our side, and I think they’re very happy about our 2-0 start.”
Despite only playing two games, the Knighthawks lead the NLL in three categories going into 2026. Fields leads the NLL with nine goals, Lanchbury is tied with Rob Hellyer for the most assists with 14 (Hellyer has played one more game), and Piseno leads all defenders in goals scored with four. Hartley also ranks second in the league for save percentage amongst starting goalies at 85 percent.
The Knighthawks will head to Denver for their next game as they take on the Colorado Mammoth on Saturday, Jan. 3. The opening faceoff is set for 9 p.m. EST.