As the Rochester Knighthawks look to get back to the win column tonight, it truly all starts at the center dot for the team.
Second-year pro and Knighthawks defenseman Tyler Halls will be matched up against Halifax Thunderbirds defenseman Jake Withers. Not an easy task when Withers is arguably one of the best players in the NLL, both defensively and offensively, and leads the league in both face-off wins and loose ball recoveries.
Last time Rochester and Halifax matched, Withers went on to win 24 of 28 face-offs on the night.
“He (Withers) was pretty good, he’s one of the most dominant face-off guys in the league,” commented Halls when asked what it was like to take on Withers a couple of weeks back.
Halls didn’t see his performance against Withers as a negative. In fact, there was a lot to learn for the second-year pro in the Knighthawks’ 17-7 loss against Halifax on Jan. 27.
“It’s awesome to face-off against him because you get to learn from him as well,” said Halls when asked what he learned from that first game against the Thunderbirds. “Game awareness, that’s the biggest thing. He (Withers) gets in such a good repetition of how he does his face-offs and everything like that and you just have to try and get him off that repetition.”
This season, Halls has really taken the bull by the horns, emerging himself as one of the Knighthawks’ most reliable and versatile assets among the team’s defensive core. In addition to his offensive contributions, Halls has cemented his status as the team’s primary face-off specialist this year having gone 74-for-199 at the center dot this season, good for a .372% success rate.
Halls 74 face-off wins rank 10th in the NLL while his five assists are tied for seventh-most amongst all defensive players.
“The guys have a lot of confidence in me and my abilities and what I’m doing. I’m just trying to make it a team game where we know that we can get that ball,” explained Halls when asked where he feels more comfortable now than opposed to the beginning of the season.
This season, the second-year Knighthawk has also established the new single-game franchise record for most face-off wins following his 18-win performance in Rochester’s road win against the Albany FireWolves on Dec. 17, besting the 17 originally set by Jay Thorimbert and later matched by Chris Willman during the team’s inaugural campaign in 2019-20.
At the end of the day, Halls knows he has a tough matchup ahead of him at the center dot. However, it’s a good thing lacrosse is a team game and it won’t be up to just Halls to shut down the play of Withers and company.
Halls went on to finish with, “At the end of the day, it’s a team game. We’re not trying to do individual stuff, so if we can make the team play where we’re always on him (Withers), causing him to change up how he has to do things, then that’s what we got to do to come out on top.”
The Knighthawks return home looking to get back in the win column tonight as they host the Thunderbirds in an Eastern Conference showdown at Segar & Sciortino Field at The Blue Cross Arena. The 7:00 p.m. matchup will be the second and final meeting between the two teams this season and will be carried live on Big 107.3 FM as well as ESPN+.