How Jake Piseno Became the Most Unique Player in College Lacrosse

When Jake Piseno stepped onto the field at Klöckner Stadium on March 19, he did so as Albany’s premier defenseman but not yet a household name among college lacrosse fans across the country.

The 5-foot-8, bearded, tattooed graduate close defenseman nicknamed “Burrito” for his small, yet compact frame was matched up with Tewaaraton finalist Connor Shellenberger — an assignment few defensemen would seek, but one Piseno wanted. He had faced some of the world’s best players as a defenseman for the Haudenosaunee Nationals in the 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship, and he was ready to do it again.

“When you have a matchup like me against Connor Shellenberger, you know the whole world is watching,” Piseno said. “You want to go against the best of the best.”

Piseno held Shellenberger in check for most of the 60 minutes in an eventual Virginia victory and gained a new following with one play in particular.

As the second quarter ended, Shellenberger darted around the right side of goal line extended with Piseno on his back. He cut toward the cage, and before he could protect his stick, Piseno cascaded down from above his head, sending the ball and Shellenberger to the ground.

Piseno added two goals in the final minutes — adding to the full display of his abilities as a threat on both defense and offense.

For many, the battle with Shellenberger at Virginia was an introduction to one of the most dynamic players in college lacrosse. However, those on the sidelines knew just how big of an impact Piseno could make in one lacrosse game. Scott Marr finds any way to get him on the field, long pole and all. That includes offensive sets out of timeouts and even man-up possessions.

A projected Premier Lacrosse League first-round draft pick, Piseno is the main reason Albany came back from an 0-4 start to finish 7-7 and earn the top seed in the America East playoffs with a 6-1 conference mark. He leads the Great Danes position players with 63 ground balls and 34 caused turnovers and ranks eighth on the team in scoring with 10 goals and four assists.

“Even before Virginia, we played UMass and [coach] Greg Cannella said Jake was the best player in the country,” Albany coach Scott Marr said. “We played Colgate our first game and after it was over, one of their defensemen walked off the field. I said, ‘Good job.’ He said, ‘I'm just trying to be Jake.’”

Even to Virginia coach Lars Tiffany, who coached the Haudenosaunee team last summer in San Diego, Piseno raised the bar.

“My expectations were high and he still exceeded them because he scored two goals,” he said, laughing. “The score was 3-3 at halftime, and I felt dumbfounded. What do we do with this guy? We can't shut him off. He's a defenseman. It's not like an offensive player that dominates the game. We can’t slide. How do we neutralize a guy who is all over the field?”

The matchup with Shellenberger and Virginia may have been Piseno’s coming-out party to the greater college lacrosse audience, but Piseno himself was not surprised by the performance.

“I knew I was going up against one of the top attackmen in the country,” he said. “I told myself I'm going to be the best defender on this field. That came with getting ground balls and pushing offense and dodging and doing all the things that I've done my whole life.”

Piseno grew up in Clay, New York and checked his way through a lengthy recruiting process until he found the right fit in Albany. He was undersized for his position but earned to throw over-the-head checks and attack ground balls with ferocity.

Some coaches saw the opposite of a stereotypical shutdown defenseman. Marr and those who supported Piseno saw a do-it-all player who could flourish in a system that allowed him to play free and without fear.

“If I went anywhere else, I wouldn't be to my full capability,” Piseno said. “Anywhere else they might have made me into an eraser defender and would have been skeptical about my checks and playing offense. Coming to Albany and the coaches having confidence in me gave me that confidence to play my game.”

Piseno has made a name for himself by being different. Some say he’s the best all-around player in college lacrosse. Next week, he could also call himself a PLL first-round selection — a rumor that has made its way across social media in recent weeks.

“There’s nobody in the country that does more for his team in the sense of playing defense, creating ground balls, playing offense, scoring goals, assisting goals,” Marr said. “People saw in the Virginia game what we’ve been seeing. It validated that conversation about Jake being one of the best.”

Piseno’s first love was basketball. He hoped to play in college, but as he put it, “the whole height thing didn’t work out.”

Instead, he gravitated to lacrosse, a sport that allowed him to take chances and play aggressively. He began playing competitively through Upstate Lacrosse Club, led by former Syracuse All-American Ric Beardsley — a player who was known for his creative and brash play inside the Dome.

Beardsley brought Piseno under his wing, realizing he had unique tools. Even if he had to rein him in on occasion.

“He looked like he had a beard and tattoos by the time he was 8, that’s how tough he was,” Beardsley joked. “One time in practice we had to tell him to stop hacking the crap out of people. He didn’t know any better. We also pulled him because the offense couldn’t run the offense when he was in.”

“I was playing at 100 percent at all times, and you had to hold me back sometimes,” Piseno said. “It wasn’t the time to break each other's wrists, as teammates.”

Piseno knew from an early age that he’d have to play an unorthodox style to be successful in lacrosse. He practiced stick checks and worked out in Beardsley’s gym, called “The Pit,” to have a leg up on his opponents as he entered high school at Liverpool.

He made varsity as a freshman, and by the end of his sophomore year, he was receiving college interest. However, a foot injury during his sophomore summer limited his exposure. The only school to offer him before his junior year was St. John’s.

Beardsley routinely called Division I coaches raving about Piseno. Eventually, he got a call from Marr, who had seen “Burrito” at the Tully Cornfield Classic.

“[Merrick Thomson] and I were watching a different game and I turned around,” Marr said. “I saw this smaller kid just dominate this game, taking shots and scooping up ground balls. I went and grabbed [Thomson] and pointed him out. He said ‘Yeah, that’s Burrito.’”

A few days later, Marr called and offered Piseno a spot on his roster. With Albany headed to the final four during the 2018 season and a history of allowing unique talents to shine, it was an easy decision for the USA Lacrosse High School All-American.

Piseno spent his first two years acclimating to the college game, suiting up as a long-stick midfielder. After the pandemic-shortened season in 2020, he scored three goals as a sophomore. Then he racked up 77 ground balls and four assists as a junior in the 2022 season, giving Marr reason to believe Piseno should be on the field more often.

By 2023, Piseno made the move to close defense and switched with fellow Great Dane star Elijah Gash, now in the PLL with the Maryland Whipsnakes.

“The more we looked at it, the more we thought of Jake as we did with Lyle [Thompson],” Marr said, likening his uniqueness to that of the former two-time Tewaaraton Award winner. “We needed him on the field all the time. During Lyle’s freshman year, we played him in transition, but decided there was no reason for him to come off the field. Jake is a similar type of player on the defensive side.”

Marr wasn’t the only Division I coach to put Piseno in such esteemed company.

“He just doesn't fit the normal scouting report, cookie-cutter definition of opposing players,” Tiffany said. “He’s so different. You can write down everything in a scouting report, but those words don’t describe his impact on the game. At least with Lyle Thompson, you could shut him off and deny him the ball as much. How do you neutralize a defenseman like that? He’s just roaming around making plays.”

Tiffany and Marr got to see firsthand the similarities when Piseno and Thompson played for the Haudenosaunee Nationals in the world championship. Piseno was one of four defensemen on the roster. As part of his qualification for the team, he discovered he had Native American heritage.

Marr had originally suggested giving Piseno one of the four non-Native spots on the roster. However, Piseno, whose grandfather was from Mexico, learned via Ancestry.com that his family was part of the Purepecha Tribe in the Michoacan territory in what is now northern Mexico and southern California.

That made it an even easier decision to add Piseno. He wanted to make sure his Haudenosaunee teammates, and the greater lacrosse world, knew it wasn’t a mistake.

“I didn't want to just be another player who was like, ‘He's in college. He’s not there yet.’ I wanted to dominate,” Piseno said. “I wanted to be the best defender on the field, playing USA or Canada or any of these teams. I wanted to match up with Rob Pannell and take Josh Byrne coming out of the box.”

Piseno did just that, landing a viral over-the-head check on Pannell, the U.S. team’s all-time leading scorer, and battling with Canada’s top attackmen. The Haudenosaunee won bronze, and Piseno was named the tournament’s most outstanding defenseman.

“I didn't think he could neutralize an elite attackman, and I definitely didn't think he could be ripping over-the-head checks and stripping elite attackmen,” Tiffany said. “I was lucky to have him on my team last summer, but not so lucky last month.”

Through his time with the Haudenosaunee, Piseno learned that he could play with an unorthodox style and still be great. He did not need to conform. That only further emboldened him for his senior spring at Albany.

After Albany’s March 19 at Virginia, Piseno jumped up the Tewaaraton Watch and PLL draft boards. USA Lacrosse Magazine’s Phil Shore projects Piseno to go eighth overall. Yale coach Andy Shay told Piseno after their April 19 game that he had seen the tape of the Virginia game and thought he was the best player on the field.

“The things that he did [against Virginia] brought me back to the days of when Dave Pietramala used to take over games,” Beardsley said. “He's the last defenseman that I saw take over games. He’s the greatest that's ever put a long stick in his hand.”

Piseno hopes to lead Albany to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2018. The Great Danes are the top seed in the America East tournament and host Merrimack in the semifinals Thursday. The PLL draft is next Tuesday.

Whatever happens, Piseno said, he will keep working on his game. He knows he doesn’t fit the mold of what a defenseman should be, but he prides himself in the fact that he brings something different to the field.

“I wasn't that perfect stature for close defender, so I trained my butt off to be the fastest and the strongest, even at my size,” he said. “It’s nice to hear people compare me to the best players in the country. I take it to heart because I never want to be complacent. I never want to be cocky enough to let somebody say, ‘You're not what they're saying.’”