Former Newtown Youth Lacrosse player Joe Banno made Major League Lacrosse (MLL) debut on April 27 in a game that was aired on ESPN3.

Banno, a goaltender who went on to play at Notre Dame-Fairfield and Haverford College in Haverford, Pa. (class of 2012), played the second half of the Rochester Rattlers’ game against the Chesapeake Bayhawks — last year’s MLL champions — in St. Petersburg, Fla. He made 14 saves and allowed five goals in one half of action, the second half, in a 17-14 loss.

The goalie starts his MLL career with a league-leading .737 save percentage and 10 goals-against-average.

Banno played youth lacrosse for Newtown from 2002-04, helping his teams beat elite teams John Jay-New York and New Canaan. He represented Newtown in the 2004 CONNY All-Star game, along with Ned Emerson (who encouraged Banno to play lacrosse in sixth grade), Will Mahoney, and Collin Babbage.

He was a two-time All-American goaltender at Haverford. He made the Rattlers 19-Man Game Day Active Roster after being picked up by the team from the Major League Lacrosse waiver wire in March and attending their 2013 training camp during two April weekends. Banno is the first Haverford men’s lacrosse player, and just the third Centennial Conference player, to be picked up by an MLL team.

Since August 2012, he’s been teaching upper school history at St. Stephen-St. Agnes School in Alexandria, Va., and assistant-coaching lacrosse, football, and basketball.