Christopher Crane, Rochester Knighthawks Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: Kristen Battista for Lacrosse is Awesome©
The Rochester Knighthawks (3-1) were on the road on Friday night January 9, 2026, as they faced off against the Philadelphia Wings (1-3) for the second time this season, this time at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Rochester fans had to watch the Knighthawks go back and forth the entire contest and saw them finally erase a very early deficit to defeat the Philadelphia Wings. Final Score: Knighthawks 16—Wings 13.
After suffering their first loss of the season in Colorado last weekend, Rochester wanted to redeem themselves. But they started off slowly and would fall behind to Philadelphia 5-1 late in the first quarter and 7-3 early in the second before the Knighthawks flipped the game in their favor with sustained pressure and transition offense.
Connor Fields (3g, 6a, 13lb) would lead his team in points to become the seventh American born player to record 500 NLL career points. Ryan Lanchbury put up eight points (2g, 6) with Thomas McConvey (3g, 1a) notching a hat trick on the night. Overall, it was a great night offensively for the visitors, including in transition tallying three on the night. The Knighthawks would showcase Nathan Kapp (6lb) at the face-off dot making his NLL debut going 16-32.
Once again, Hutchcraft and Hartley would split time in between the pipes with Hutchcraft seeing 13 shots stopping 7, and Hartley stopping 20 of 26 shots. Hartley would come away with the win on the night.
The game got off to a slow start with the first point going on the board over six minutes in. Philadelphia would get out early behind the play of Michael Sowers (4g, 3a) who would tally three of his four goals in the opening quarter of play. Rochester put up only two in the first, with Fields and McConvey finding twine. Score at the end of one: Wings 5—Knighthawks 2.
The Wings would have to play catch up in the second outscoring Philadelphia 5-2 in the frame and would finally tie it up at 8’s with just one second left in the first half. Eric Fannell (1g) would open it up in the second, with Matt Gilray (2g) tallying one a little over a minute later. At the 10:49 mark, Brennan O’Neil (2g, 3a) would net his second score of the night. Rochester would respond by scoring five of the final six goals of the second to pull even at 8-8 at halftime with Gilray putting up his second goal of the night hitting the back of the net with one second remaining. Score at the end of two: Knighthawks 8—Wings 8.
The Knighthawks would pick up where they left off in the third quarter, outscoring the Wings 5-3 to get their first lead of the night 13-11 heading into the fourth quarter. Lanchbury (2g, 6) would lead the way in the second half as the only multiple goal scorer while teammates Josh Medeiros (1g) and Zed Williams (1g) capitalizing on broken plays. Philadelphia decided to change things up a bit and pull Damude following Rochester’s Z. Williams’ goal, with backup Deacan Knott playing out the remainder of night. The Wings would tally their final in the frame with Phil Caputo (1g, 1a) notching one with four and half to go in the third, tying the contest 11-11. But the Knighthawks would add to their lead going up by two. McConvey would score with 2:46 left and Smith capped it off with just 20 seconds on the ticker. Score at the end of three: Knighthawks 13—Wings 11.
Rochester kept it going in the fourth, tallying the first three. The first came early in the frame from Jeremy Thompson (1g,1). The fans would then see some great netminding with neither team finding the net for almost seven minutes. The Knighthawks were not about to let this one get away. Fields would notch his hat trick with 4:43 to go; and Lanchbury would tally his second with just under two minutes to put them up 16-11. Philadelphia would attempt a comeback in the last 90 seconds, putting up the final two in the closing seconds. Dustyn Birkhof (1g) would find twine with 37 seconds left on the ticker and the final tally came from Resetarits 14 seconds before the buzzer. Final Score: Knighthawks 16—Wings 13.
Stars of the Game:
Connor Fields—Rochester Knighthawks: 3g, 6a
Ryan Lanchbury—Rochester Knighthawks: 2g, 6a
Michael Sowers—Philadelphia Wings: 4g, 3a
GAME STATS:
Rochester Knighthawks—SOG 79; Saves 39; Sv% .750; FO 16-32; PP 2-4; PIM 6
Philadelphia Wings—SOG 52; Saves 63; Sv% .797; FO 16-32; PP 1-3; PIM 8
NEXT UP:
The Rochester Knighthawks (3-1) are back in action tonight Saturday January 10, 2026, when they host the Buffalo Bandits (3-1)** at Blue Cross Arena, game time 7:00 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can see the action on ESPN+ while fans in Canada can catch the game on TSN+. The game can also be seen on NLL+.
The Philadelphia Wings (1-3) will head to Nevada to face the Las Vegas Desert Dogs (2-3) at Lee’s Family Forum on Saturday January 17, 2026, game time 10:30 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can see the action on ESPN+ while fans in Canada can catch the game on TSN+. The game can also be seen on NLL+.
Christopher Crane, Rochester Knighthawks Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
**Record at the time of the article