(Rochester, NY)… We’re closing in on the end of the summer lacrosse season, and one Knighthawk is a Presidents Cup Champion. The Six Nations Chiefs are preparing this week for the Mann Cup at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena (ILA), where two Knighthawks will compete for a championship. In the Premier Lacrosse League, the finals matchup is set, with one Knighthawk looking to win his first career professional championship.
PRESIDENTS CUP:
Cam MacLeod was the only Knighthawk to play in the Presidents Cup last week, the international championship for Senior “B” Lacrosse. He left the tournament as a champion. He backstopped the Edmonton Miners in four of their six games, including the semifinals against the Newtown Golden Eagles and the final against the defending champion Snake Island Muskies.
MacLeod notched 42 saves against the Ladner Pioneers, an offense bolstered by National Lacrosse League players Haiden Dickson and Mitch Jones, and made 55 stops in his first game against Newtown. In that second game, he only allowed two goals and posted a .965 save percentage. He made 44 saves in the final game against Snake Island and posted a .917 save percentage after only allowing four goals.
MacLeod after winning Gold. (Photo Credit: Billie Barrett)
Overall in his four games, MacLeod made 172 saves, an average of 43 per game. His tournament save percentage was .879, and he averaged 5.50 goals against per game. That makes two years in a row that a Knighthawk has won the Presidents Cup, after Ryan Lanchbury won it last year with Snake Island.
MANN CUP:
The Mann Cup starts on Friday, Sept. 11, with the seven-game series running through Sept. 19, if necessary. The Mann Cup is one of the oldest trophies in Canadian sports. It is the second-oldest trophy in Canadian lacrosse, with the first being awarded to the Toronto Young Torontos in 1910.
In recent years, the trophy has only changed hands a few times. Since 2013, only three teams have hoisted the Mann Cup: the Victoria Shamrocks once in 2015, the Peterborough Lakers four times from 2017 through 2022, and the Six Nations Chiefs six times (2013, ‘14, ‘16, ‘23, ‘24, ‘25). The Chiefs will look to become the second team ever to win four consecutive cups and are trying to keep their streak of winning the championship every time they have competed; this is their 10th trip to the Mann Cup.
Smith and Thompson at the ILA. (Photo Credit: Lee Nanticoke)
One of the newest Knighthawks, Shonwahnonkon Thompson, plays for the Chiefs. He’s been with the squad since the 2024 MSL season and will be gunning for his third Mann Cup with the team.
Ryan Smith was with the Chiefs last year when they won the cup. He won the Mike Kelley Award as the Mann Cup MVP, leading the 2025 series with 14 goals. This summer he is ready to run it back against a Coquitlam team backstopped by Vancouver Warriors goalie Christian Del Bianco.
“I am very excited to have an opportunity to play for the Mann Cup,” Smith said. “It is one of the most prestigious and has the most history of any championship in lacrosse. It’s a very good Coquitlam team, backstopped by one of the best goalies in the world. I’m looking forward to playing for the cup at home in front of family and friends.”
PLL:
Only one Knighthawk remains to compete for a PLL championship after the semifinals shook out on Labor Day. Jake Piseno will look for his first-ever professional championship on Sunday, Sept. 20, against the Philadelphia Waterdogs. His head coach, Rochester lacrosse legend Tim Soudan, is hunting his first-ever outdoor championship.
The Outlaws came out on top against Connor Fields, Mitchell Dunham, and the Utah Archers, 11-5, in a defensive grudge match. Fields was held to only one shot in the game; he scored it, but the Archers’ offense couldn’t find any rhythm throughout the game. That was the game’s final goal, with 42 seconds left in the third quarter. Two minutes before that, Piseno scored a two-point goal to make it 11-4; he also scooped up four ground balls in the win.
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On the other side of the bracket, Graydon Hogg and the Boston Cannons fell to the Philadelphia Waterdogs 13-10. Hogg added one assist for the Cannons. In the third quarter, he fed Mike Weisshaar to bring the Cannons within one at 7-6. Following that tally, Philadelphia went on a five-goal run that carried into the fourth quarter, and they were able to hold off Boston for the remainder of the game.
The Outlaws and Waterdogs matchup is a first-ever finals matchup for the league. Still, both teams are familiar with playing in a PLL Championship Game. Denver fell in the finals last year to the Atlas, and Philadelphia made back-to-back finals trips in 2022 and 2023, winning the first and falling in the second.