We have entered the March to May, and National Lacrosse League action is only going to get more exciting each week. This weekend, we’ll see plenty of faces in new places, which is bound to make each of the six games on tap even more intriguing. Here are some juicy nuggets to prepare you for a consequential weekend of NLL battles.
This is By The Numbers.
2 – Points Connor Fields Needs To Move Up The All-Time Points By An American List
Connor Fields has been putting up points like it’s nobody’s business over the last few NLL seasons.
Since being traded from the Buffalo Bandits ahead of the 2022-23 season, Fields has tallied 316 points in less than 3 full seasons. That burst of points has been steadily pushing him up the all-time ranks lists.
Fields needs to tally only 2 more points to pass Drew Westervelt of Bel Air, Maryland (433 regular season career points) for the 7th-most points by an American in NLL history. Fields would then be looking to catch up to Brian Langtry of Massapequa, New York, who finished his NLL regular season career with 504 points.
By the time Connor Feilds eventually retires – let’s remember he’s only 29 – he will be somewhere near the very top of this list near or, dare I say, above Joe Resetarits, who currently holds the record with 831 regular season points (and counting).
As a brief side note regarding Fields, he is currently on pace to tally 116 points this regular season. This would be his 3rd 110+ point season in his NLL career. Prior to this season, only Mark Matthews, Shawn Evans, and Dhane Smith had 3 or more 110+ point seasons.
5 – Total Combined Points From Brennan O’Neill & Dyson Williams Last Time Their Teams Played Each Other.
The Albany FireWolves are visiting the Philadelphia Wings in Week 15. For Albany to make it into the playoffs, they would need to win their final six games of the season, starting with their clash against the Wings. The Wings are sitting at 5-6, right in the heart of the playoff hunt, but a loss would throw a medium-sized wrench into their plan to make the postseason.
But, this matchup isn’t just a significant one because of the possible playoff implications looming around it. This is a matchup you won’t want to miss because it’s Dyson Williams vs. Brennan O’Neill Part 2.
The first time these former Duke University teammates faced each other was on February 22nd. Williams’ FireWolves won 11-6. Williams also won the head-to-head points battle with O’Neill 4-1. Both rising talents scored in that game, but only 1-goal each.
We’ve seen both of these big names shine this season, so I expect that Williams and O’Neill will combine for more than 5 points in Week 15. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if one of those guys tallied more than 5 points on their own.
7 – Assists Dhane Smith To Reach 70 For This Season
The Buffalo Bandits’ Dhane Smith needs 7 assists to reach 70 assists this season. Now, you might be asking yourself, why should I care?
For starters, reaching 70 assists in your 11th game of the season is an impressive feat by anyone’s standards. Let’s say that Smith finishes this upcoming Week 15 game against the Calgary Roughnecks with 7 assists. That would give him 70, but it would also put him on pace for a record-setting 115 assists this season, breaking his own record of 101 assists from last season.
Hitting 70 assists would also mark his 5th 70+ assists a regular season in the NLL. That would be more 70+ assist seasons than anyone else in the league’s history. For the record, he is currently tied with Josh Sanderson.
30 – Times Cam Holding Will Have Faced The Vancouver Warriors After Week 15
The San Diego Seals Cam Holding has played against Vancouver a lot in his career.
This weekend’s clash between the Seals and the Warriors will be the 13th time Holding will have played the Warriors (all as a member of San Diego. It will also be the 30th time in his career he’ll be facing them overall – he played the Vancouver Stealth as a member of the Colorado Mammoth 17 times from 2014-2017.
Exclusively looking at Seals franchise history, Holding will now move into 1st all-time for the most regular season games against the Warriors. Drew Belgrave had also played 12 games against the Warriors with the Seals, but Belgrave is now with the Las Vegas Desert Dogs, which allows Holding to grab the record.
Holding’s teams have an overall record of 18-11 against the Stealth/Warriors, although when his Seals and Warriors last battled it, the Seals lost 11-9 in Vancouver.
8 – TJ Comizio’s Career Caused Turnovers vs. The Colorado Mammoth
It was announced on Thursday evening that the Georgia Swarm had traded the righty 28-year-old defender to the Colorado Mammoth in exchange for 3rd round draft pick in the stacked 2026 NLL Entry Draft.
Comizio has had some success facing the Mammoth in his young NLL career, but now he’ll be helping his former foes out in the back end. In Comizio’s first-ever game against the Mammoth on February 3rd, 2023, he recorded a career-high-tying 4 caused turnovers. He also added 7 loose ball recoveries and 2 blocked shots in that contest. He has tallied at least 1 caused turnover in 4 of the 5 games he’s played versus the Mammoth.
The Mammoth could use help in front of Dillon Ward. While Ward is having a solid season, he’s getting a lot of attention because of the high volume of shots he’s needed to stop. Coming into Week 15 action, the Mammoth have allowed a league 3rd-worst 76.58 shots against per game. The hope will be that Comizio will help the Mammoth bring that number down the final stretch of the regular season and into the playoffs.