The National Lacrosse League announced today that Rochester Knighthawks forward Connor Fields has been named a Second Team All-League selection for the 2022-23 season.
“Connor had an immediate impact on our team the moment he stepped on the floor in training camp,” said Knighthawks general manager Dan Carey, who on Wednesday was named the NLL’s General Manager of the Year for the 2022-23 season. “He’s a tremendous talent, teammate and competitor. What impresses me the most about his statistics from this season are his loose balls. He’s committed to helping this team eventually win a championship and it shows in his preparation and play.”
Fields consistently – and quite impressively – evolved into one of the NLL’s most elite offensive players during the 2022-23 season, which was highlighted by 17 straight multi-goal efforts.
Acquired by Rochester along with goaltender Riley Hutchcraft and the first overall pick in the 2022 NLL Entry Draft from the Las Vegas Desert Dogs during the 2022 Expansion Draft, the East Amherst, New York, native closed out his record-setting campaign second in the NLL with 52 goals behind only New York’s Jeff Teat and finished fifth with 112 points despite one missing one game. His 52 goals matched his career total dating back to his rookie campaign in 2018-19.
Fields, who set the Knighthawks single-season franchise records for goals, assists and points, led the team in scoring in 14 of his 17 outings this season and scored at least two goals or more in all 17 games, including four straight weeks of four-goal efforts. By posting his third 10-point performance of the year against Albany on April 8, Fields became just the fifth player this season and only the third American-born player in NLL history to record 100 points in a season, a feat previously accomplished twice by Philadelphia’s Joe Resetarits, a former Knighthawks in the previous organization, in 2018 and 2022 as well as Toronto’s Tom Schreiber this season.
Fields, who averaged nearly seven points per game this season, added yet another milestone to his already distinguished list of accolades when he scored twice in the win over Georgia on April 22 to become just the second American-born player to score 50 goals in a season, joining Roy Colsey, who reached the mark in 2001 with the New York Saints.
Additionally, Fields, who paced all NLL forwards with 142 loose ball recoveries, became the first NLL player since Athan Iannucci in 2008 to record more than 100 points and 130 loose balls in the same season. The only other player in league history to reach both of those marks in a single season was NLL legend and Buffalo head coach John Tavares. Fields closed out the season as one of only three players, joining Jeff Teat of the New York Riptide and Robert Church of the Saskatchewan Rush, to record 50 goals and 50 assists, marking the first time since 2002 three different players reached the marks in the same season.
In 49 career NLL games with Rochester, Buffalo and San Diego, the 6-foot-0, 180-pound forward has totaled 228 points (104+124) and 320 loose ball recoveries after being selected in the first-round (10th overall) by the Seals in the 2018 NLL Enty Draft.