Jake Piseno is only in his second year of professional lacrosse, but he already gained experience and accolades that should belong to someone five years his senior.
Since the summer before his senior year of college, Piseno has been on an upward trajectory to become the best long stick midfielder in the world. In the box, he takes a short stick and turns to transition. Earlier this year, he notched his first career hat trick.
The opportunities came from his experiences with the Haudenosaunee National Team. That was actually how he found out about his native heritage in the first place.
“I first kind of found out when I was a senior in high school,” Piseno said. “I got noticed by the coaches for Haudenosaunee, for the U-19 team at the time, and they saw my dad, and were like, ‘Hey, do you have any native heritage?’ My dad said, ‘I think we actually do.’ He had this feeling that we might have native heritage.”
“My dad and I always thought we were Mohawk,” added Jake. “It wasn’t until we started digging deeper that we discovered more about our background. I learned that my tribe was the only one not conquered by the Aztecs.”
Piseno traced his and his father’s lineage back to the P’urhépecha People of Michoacán, Mexico. They are recognized as an Indigenous tribe of the first North America. Since then, Piseno has been asking questions and trying to learn as much as he can about native culture.
His first opportunity to represent the Haudenosaunee came with a few detours, though. As a 2019 high school graduate, Piseno dealt with the same struggle everyone else did the next year.
“The whole journey started, and obviously, COVID kind of made things very hard,” Piseno said. “I waited a long time to represent the Haudenosaunee, but it finally happened in 2022. The U-21 tournament was awesome, it was great to experience a lot of the culture that I didn’t know before.”
The pandemic proved to be a blessing and a curse. Because of a delay due to COVID, Piseno rolled right from the U-21 team to the men’s team just a summer later, and in 2023, he was playing at the World Lacrosse Championships. That tournament put him on the map.
Prior to the world tournament in 2023, Piseno had just played his best season of college lacrosse. He led the country with 50 caused turnovers and scooped up almost 80 ground balls. But the summer was a different speed. It didn’t faze Piseno, though. He notched six points and 11 ground balls in eight games and earned defender of the tournament honors.
“Winning Defender of the Tournament was pretty special,” Piseno said with a laugh. “It’s not every day you can say you were the best defender in the world in 2023.
“That experience really propelled me into my fourth year at Albany with a new level of confidence. Knowing I competed against guys like Josh Byrne, Dhane Smith, Connor Fields, Jeff Teat, and Rob Pannell—and held my own—gave me belief. I proved it against the best in the world, so I knew I could carry that into the college game.”
In his final season with the Great Danes, Piseno almost tripled his point production, going from seven assists in 2023 to 13 goals and six assists in 2024. He also added 79 ground balls and 44 caused turnovers. It was the first time in his Albany tenure that the team made the tournament. They earned their first tournament win in six years.
Toronto Rock @ Rochester Knighthawks 01/17/26 (Credit: Jonathan Tenca/NLL)
Since that fifth year, Piseno has gone on to be drafted in both the NLL and PLL. In the field game, he is the reigning Long Stick Midfielder of the Year, along with being a two-time All-Star. In the box, things have taken a bit more time. When Piseno was drafted in 2023 by Rochester, he had only played eight box lacrosse games in his life. After his first season in 2024-25, he had played as many NLL games as general box lacrosse games.
Now in year two with Rochester, he continues to get more comfortable with every rep and has started to find his voice. This year, he has also been reunited with a Haudenosaunee teammate, Zed Williams. They developed a special bond at Worlds in 2023 when Williams was playing close defense instead of attack.
“It was awesome to collaborate with Zed because he was just asking questions constantly,” Piseno said. “For me, playing in college, coaches expect you to know all this stuff, and so it was really humbling to have him ask questions. Like, I was being taught things for the Haudenosaunee and was a teacher, and with a guy like Zed Williams.”
Jake had a lot to prove that summer. He was not only a college kid playing against men, but he was also a young member of a community still trying to learn.
Philadelphia Wings @ Rochester Knighthawks 12/20/25 (Credit: Jonathan Tenca/NLL)
“I was just happy for Jake,” Williams said. “At that time, I was one of the older, more proven guys, and I always went out of my way to make sure those guys like Jake were okay to be on the team and make sure they knew that they were accepted. After winning the defensive player of the tournament, he proved that he belongs. I’m happy that I was there just to be a brother to him.”
Piseno didn’t only prove himself. He established himself as the best defender on the Haudenosaunee National Team and will no doubt be a player they can build around as lacrosse continues to grow on the world stage. For him, though, he is still just that young kid living every lacrosse fan’s dream.
“I still tell my dad to this day that I was on the same field as Lyle Thompson, Zed Williams, all these guys,” Piseno said. “Not only was I on the field, but I was in the same locker room and wearing the same jersey as them, going into battle with them.”
It’s funny to think that, in five years, another kid will be saying the same thing about him.