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NLL Rochester Knighthawks

Hartley's Return Leads Knighthawks to First-Ever Win in Philadelphia

February 1, 2025 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Rochester Knighthawks News Release


(Philadelphia, PA) - The highly anticipated return of goaltender Rylan Hartley coupled with a strong first-half performance powered the Rochester Knighthawks (4-6) to a 15-12 victory over the Philadelphia Wings (5-3) Saturday night at Wells Fargo Center.

The win was Rochester's third straight on the road and fourth overall of the campaign for the Knighthawks, who improved to 4-6 on the season heading into their first bye week. The win was also the team's first in Philadelphia after dropping its previous three visits to the Keystone State since the expansion-era began. Dating back to last season's finale against the Wings, Rochester has earned two consecutive victories, outscoring Philadelphia 27-15 over that span, after going winless through the first six meetings.

Connor Fields and Ryan Lanchbury both finished with a game-high seven assists and nine points to lead the Knighthawks back into win column while Fields totaled 16 shots and 13 loose ball recoveries.

Ryan Smith and Thomas McConvey each netted a hat trick to go with a pair of assists for five points while Graydon Hogg (2+0), Kyle Waters (1+1), Matt Gilray (1+1), and Josh Medeiros (0+2) all had a multi-point performance. Curtis Knight (1+0), Ian Llord (0+1), Ethan O'Connor (0+1) and Mike Sisselberger (0+1) closed out the scoring by adding one point.

Hartley, who made his season debut after spending the first nine weeks of the campaign sidelined due to injury, finished with 31 saves to earn the win while facing eight shots in each quarter apart from the second where he saw seven.

FIRST QUARTER

After the two teams traded early goals in the first 66 seconds of the contest, Hogg scooped up a Fields rebound atop Wings' netminder Nick Damude's crease before the rookie wired his fourth of the season.

The Wings responded after Hoggs' marker with 12:06 to play in the frame as leading goal-scorer Mitch Jones received Joe Resetarits' feed and fired a shot from distance past Hartley.

Five minutes after Jones set up Resetarits, the duo combined again for Philadelphia's next marker but this time in reverse as Resetarits dove across the crease from left to right for his team and league-leading 60th point of the campaign.

Rochester closed out the quarter on a three-goal run on tallies from Fields, Hogg and McConvey to take a 4-3 advantage while also outshooting the Wings 17-11.

SECOND QUARTER

McConvey started the second-quarter after taking a pass from Fields and converting on a highlight reel one-handed shot past Damude just 29 seconds into the frame.

After the teams alternated goals yet again, the Wings tallied the next two markers, including one from former Knighthawk Holden Cattoni, to knot the score at 6-6 with nearly 7:30 to play in the stanza.

Rochester immediately answered as Lanchbury cut to the middle of the offensive zone and used the spaced afforded to him from Waters' screen to restore the advantage on his sixth point (2+4) of the half.

The Knighthawks grabbed an 8-6 lead as McConvey had the ball to the side of the net then went airborn as he went through the crease for his second of the night.

To close out the scoring, the two clubs exchanged goals, making the score 9-7 in favor of Rochester while the shots were also 30-22 for the visitors.

THIRD QUARTER

Carrying a two-goal lead to begin the second half, McConvey grabbed a pass in the middle of the offensive zone before completing the hat trick just 28 seconds into the third.

Rochester extended its lead to 11-7 as Waters found a loose ball off a Fields shot for his sixth of the slate.

Resetarits temporarily stopped the Knighthawks three-goal run as he scored Philadelphia's first goal in 11:33 by burying a shot past Hartley as the shot clock was expiring at the 9:26 mark.

The Knighthawks took a holding penalty, however, as Knight held the ball while shorthanded, the veteran forward caught the defense by surprise and pushed the advantage to 12-8 with an unassisted with 2:57 remaining.

Rochester closed out the quarter as they held possession for the final 30 seconds before Fields snagged the ball in the center of the floor and managed to the beat clock on a last-second conversion to push the lead to five, marking Rochester's largest lead of the night.

FOURTH QUARTER

With a 13-8 score to start the final 15 minutes, the two clubs went goal-for-goal on back-to-back occasions keeping the game a five-goal lead for the Knighthawks with just over seven minutes to play.

While Resetarits scored his second of the quarter and fifth of the night at the 9:03 mark followed by former Knighthawk Phil Caputo netting his second three minutes later, Rochester's defense shut down the Wings to close out the 15-12 victory.

UP NEXT

The Knighthawks continue their season-long three-game road swing following the bye week as it takes them to Canada for a pair of contests beginning on Saturday, Feb. 15 when they visit the Saskatchewan Rush at SaskTel Centre. The 8:00 p.m. ET 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 + and NLL+.

--@RocKnighthawks--

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