Rochester Knighthawks General Manager and Vice President of Lacrosse Operations Dan Carey announced today that the team has acquired face-off specialist Connor Farrell, from the San Diego Seals. In return, the Knighthawks sent their fourth and fifth-round selections in the 2023 NLL Entry Draft, pending league approval.
Farrell, 26, joins the Knighthawks after spending his third professional season with the Seals in 2022-23. As a rookie, the Holtsville, New York native was signed to the New York Riptide’s practice squad.
The 6-foot-2, 240-pound face-off specialist is currently in his fifth campaign with the Chrome Lacrosse Club of the Premier Lacrosse League. Since the start of 2019, Farrell has appeared in 32 games, showing eight points (6+2) to go with 334 loose ball recoveries and winning 532 of his 948 face-offs for a 56.1 winning-percentage.
He is a two-time PLL All-Star (2022, 2023) and earned a sportsmanship award in 2019.
Prior to turning pro, Farrell completed a four-year collegiate career at Long Island University (NCAA) from 2016-2019, registering 23 points on 12 goals and 11 assists in 50 career games. In addition to being a three-time All-ECC First Team honoree, he also added 507 ground balls while showing a .728 face-off winning percentage.
In his final season with the Pioneers, he finished first in the nation in face-off winning percentage (.814) as well as in ground balls per game (16.75), both of which were new NCAA Division II single-season records. Additionally, he established an NCAA Division II single-game record with 30 ground balls against Merrimack on Mar. 9, 2019.
Farrell was originally a second-round selection (24th overall) of the Riptide in the 2019 NLL Entry Draft.