The Utah Archers have placed faceoff specialist Mike Sisselberger on the Injured Reserve. Sisselberger will miss at least three games (as is required for players on the Injured List) as a result. Through five games in 2025, he’s won 35.6% of the draws he’s taken, down from his average win percentages of 68.1% and 58.4% in 2023 and 2024.
To replace Sisselberger in the lineup, the Archers have signed faceoff specialist Jake Naso through the 2025 season.
Naso graduated from Duke in 2024 as the Blue Devils’ all-time leader in faceoff wins (1,001) and ground balls (554) and ranked 7th all-time in NCAA history in both those categories. He was invited to training camp out of college by the California Redwoods, but never saw game action.
“Great college career,” Archers head coach and general manager Chris Bates said. “I’ve always been impressed with his scrap at the X. I just feel like he’s wired to be a guy that can help us.”
Naso was a first-team All-American in 2023 and an honorable mention All-American in 2024 and 2021. He won 59.3% of his career draws and notched 21 goals and 11 assists for 32 career points as a four-year starter.
“He’s competed against the best of the best,” Bates added. “We feel like he’s the next man up in terms of being the best option for us.”
Utah also knows it has to improve on faceoff wings to give Naso support. That’s up to players executing and the staff scheming up plans to more consistently involve wings including Mason Woodward, Cam Wyers, Piper Bond, Beau Pederson and Connor Maher in the faceoff battle.
“Our wing play has to be better,” Bates said. “It’s just something that we’ve talked about, and need to address a little bit more. Part of it being scheme, part of it being ‘What can we do better here to read exits and put ourselves in a position to get our nose over the ball and come up with a couple more of those a game?’”
Naso and the Archers wing unit will match up against an emerging Alec Stathakis and a capable Waterdogs troupe on Friday night. Stathakis is fifth in the league in faceoff win percentage at 52.9%, improved from his 44.8% mark as a rookie. He has battled and succeeded against some of the best specialists in the league this season, winning 71.4% against TD Ierlan and the California Redwoods and 51.9% against Trevor Baptiste and the New York Atlas.
If Naso can get Utah back to a near even split at the faceoff stripe, that could provide a crucial boost for an Archers offense that has scored the fewest goals in the league halfway through the season. Utah will rely on him to do just that before Sisselberger could potentially return for the final stretch ahead of the postseason.
