It was a record-setting night on several occasions for the Rochester Knighthawks (4-6), who put together their finest offensive performance of the season on their way to a 19-15 win over the Panther City Lacrosse Club (5-6) Sunday afternoon at Dickies Arena.
With the win, Rochester, which improves to 2-0 all-time against Panther City after earning the win last season, snaps a six-game winless skid after opening the year with three straight wins.
Connor Fields, who came into the matchup with a team-best 60 points on the season, showcased his offensive prowess, factoring in on 14 of his team’s 19 goals while setting the single-game record for assists (11) and points (14). Fields, who finished two assists shy of tying the NLL’s single-game mark, also added seven loose ball recoveries and recorded a team-high 18 shots on goal as part of a franchise-best 73-shot night for Rochester.
Rookie forward Thomas McConvey also had himself a night, scoring a team-high six goals, the most in franchise history in a single game, while also adding an assist for seven points. The 2022 first overall pick open and closed the scoring for Rochester, whose 19 goals tied the record for most in a game.
In addition to Fields and McConvey having record-setting nights, Ryan Smith (3+4) also netted a three-goal game while Curtis Knight (2+4), Dan Lomas (2+3), and Kyle Waters (2+2) both added multi-goal performances. Ryan Lanchbury (1+4), Matt Gilray (0+2), Taylor Jensen (0+2), Greg Harnett (0+1) and Thomas Whitty (0+1) all closed out the scoring.
Face-off specialist Joe Post controlled the dot with 26 face-off wins, surpassing his own record (24) which he previously established earlier this season in Saskatchewan.
Goaltender Riley Hutchcraft (4-6) drew another start in the crease for Rochester, and his ninth appearance of the campaign. Hutchcraft, who finished stopping 47 of 62 shots he faced, made double digits saves in each quarter to pick up his fourth win of the season. The netminder’s 47 saves matched a personal-best.
Count 'em up… 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨
Thomas McConvey scores his 6️⃣th of the game and that's our rookie's FIRST @NLL sock trick! 👏🧦 pic.twitter.com/cHkDsm6qm5
— Rochester Knighthawks (@RocKnighthawks) March 3, 2024
Will Malcom scored a career-high seven goals to go along with his four assists while Jonathan Donville (3+4) also notched a hat trick for Panther City, which suffered a pair of home losses this weekend. Callum Crawford (0+5) and Anthony Malcom (0+4) both collected multi-assists games while former Knighthawk Phil Caputo (2+2) and Jason Knox (2+0) added a pair of goals. Josh Medeiros (1+0), Mathieu Gauthier (0+1), Ronin Pusch (0+1), Connor Sellars (0+1), and Matt Hossack (0+1) each totaled an assist.
Nick Damude (5-4) and Cam MacLeod (0-1) split the goaltending duties for Panther City, which completed its second game of the weekend. Damude, who drew his 11thh start of the campaign, made 18 saves whereas MacLeod stopped 36 of the 47 shots he faced.
The Knighthawks, whose last win came two days before Christmas, set the tone early with four straight goals in the opening four minutes, two of which came from McConvey.
🚨 LET'S GO LANCH!
15-10, us | Q4, 11:31 remaining pic.twitter.com/yOh5g2yRz1
— Rochester Knighthawks (@RocKnighthawks) March 3, 2024
The rookie opened the scoring just 24 seconds into the contest from Jensen and Gilray before Knight notched his first of the season from Fields and Smith 1:23 into the first.
Rochester scored twice in less 30 seconds as McConvey and Smith found the back of the net at the 2:42 mark.
Panther City ended the four-goal run as Donville, the first overall selection in 2021, and Will Malcom sandwiched Lomas’ power-play goal to close out the scoring in the opening quarter.
With this apple on Ryan Smith's second goal, Curtis Knight has officially hit 3️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ career assists! 👏 pic.twitter.com/AAIwt9QUQy
— Rochester Knighthawks (@RocKnighthawks) March 3, 2024
The two clubs traded tallies in the first minute of the second quarter, but Rochester used another multi-goal outburst to secure a 9-3 cushion, which completed McConvey’s hat trick with 9:54 left in the frame.
Panther City cut into the six-goal deficit as Knox and Will Malcom beat Hutchcraft in a span of 1:08, but Knight netted his second of the game to put the visitors up 10-5 as he was set-up by Fields and Lomas.
Medeiros brought the first half to a close with his first of the year as he fired in a shot from Connor Sellars while the duo was in transition inside the Knighthawks side of the field.
Dan Lomas came into tonight with 2️⃣ goals so far this season.
Dan Lomas now has 2️⃣ goals…tonight. pic.twitter.com/tH45HITrhO
— Rochester Knighthawks (@RocKnighthawks) March 3, 2024
After notching eight points (2+6) in the first half, Fields factored in on all three Knighthawks goals in the third quarter to make it a 13-8 score going into the final frame.
Donville scored the first and fifth goals following the break, but Fields earned the secondary helpers on Lomas and Smith’s tallies, respectively, before completing the hat trick with three minutes to play.
The final frame proved to be the most chaotic as the two teams combined 13 goals, including three more for McConvey to help Rochester get back in the win column.
Connor. Fields.
It's @Marvel Super Hero Day in Panther City and Connor Fields is showing off ALL of his superpowers. pic.twitter.com/Kw6svCooKP
— NLL (@NLL) March 3, 2024
The Knighthawks return home on Saturday, Mar. 9 when they open a home-and-home series with the intrastate rival Albany FireWolves at Segar and Sciortino Field at The Blue Cross Arena. Game time is slated for a 7:00 p.m. start and will be carried live on Big 107.3 FM as well as ESPN+.
