Connor Kiernan pulled off a clean hidden ball trick during a box lacrosse game between Rochester and New York. It started when he bobbled the ball, then handed it off—except he didn’t. He faked the pass while his teammate pretended to take it and lined up for a shot. Defenders and the goalie bit on the fake, but Kiernan still had the ball and launched a shot from up top. Almost everyone on the floor, including the ref and goalie, thought his teammate had it. The defense was caught off guard, except for possibly one guy who seemed to stick with Kiernan, maybe tipping off he knew what was coming.
Rochester was on a penalty kill, so they only had four defenders. That might’ve made the fake easier to sell. As the fake shot unfolded, teammates and defenders reacted like it was real. One New York defender, thinking the shot was coming, stepped in to block it, only to realize he was duped as Kiernan fired from the outside. The move worked so well that even Kiernan’s own teammates might not have known he still had the ball. It was his 33rd goal of the season, and he sold the trick without a hitch. The whole play raised the question—do box lacrosse teams actually practice this, or did they pull it off in the moment? Either way, it worked.