TOWSON, Md. - With the 2024-25 season officially behind us, the Landmark Conference proudly looks back on a year full of solid performances and meaningful achievements across all 10 member schools. Over the next two weeks, we'll be featuring a different institution each week with their top moments and stories. Check back often and click the link below to explore the full recap.
Landmark Conference Yearbook
Ben Franco '25 thought for a second about the question asked, then said: "A perfect day would consist of a high level of play and a high level of communication between me and my teammates. It would have a high level of efficiency and our defense would work really well. We wouldn't have any lulls."
It was the type of analytical answer one could expect from the senior goalkeeper for the Lycoming College men's lacrosse team, one that makes it clear that even though he holds just about every saves record that one could at the school, that he knows he didn't sit on a lonely island when he steps into the crease at UPMC Field at Keiper Stadium.
As he talked, the trust, excitement and love that he has for lacrosse, his teammates, Lycoming College and the future of the men's lacrosse program under second-year head coach Tony Mackin '08, shone through even more.
"Coach Mackin is trying to build a program that fits into that mold," he said. "If our team is working like a well-oiled machine and we're being productive, that's what he wants to see out of us."
Production, at least out of the team's defense, hasn't been an issue thanks to Franco and his classmate and roommate, Jakob Switzer '25.
In four seasons as the team's starting goalkeeper, Franco, a biology major from Macungie, Pa., earned threee all-conference accolades, was the MAC Freedom Rookie of the Year in 2022 and has set program records with 250 saves in 2024. He shattered that mark in 2025 when he broke the Landmark Conference record by posting 283 saves, including a record 190 in conference play, also a record. He finished his career with 978 saves, 10
th-most in NCAA Division III history.
"Everything ran through Ben," Switzer said. "He has the career saves record for a reason. Having him as our backbone and having him tell us what he sees, it makes everything easy. In practice, Ben can see a pass two passes away. He'll tell the defense to be ready for this and be ready for that. It's another variation of having a Coach back there."
For his part, Switzer set game (11) and single-season (41) records in caused turnovers during the 2024 season, then became the first player in program history to reach 100 career caused turnovers in 2025 while earning his first all-conference nod, despite fully transitioning from being a short-stick midfielder to being a close defender with about three feet longer at the end of the 2023 season.
"I just want to play our defense and keep to the principles that Coach Mackin and Assistant Coach (Grant) Huff incorporate," he said. "It's a team defense – no one person is more important than everyone. We all have responsibilities as a unit."
Franco added: "Jakob's definitely been an asset in front of me. We're constantly together, bouncing ideas of one another. It's cool to see that we've both been able to find such great success here."
The West Pittston, Pa., native decided to come back for his final year of eligibility and to finish a minor in environmental science to go with his biology major, in large part because of his belief that Coach Mackin is building something special with Lycoming lacrosse.
"Seeing the improvements every day that Coach Mackin installed in our program and bringing back the culture that we had when I was getting recruited, I knew I wanted to come back," Switzer said. "Everything we do, we do for the guys in the locker room and the guys we battle with. That's the culture that we want to see."
Like Switzer, Franco said that he believes with Coach Mackin at the helm, it will only be a matter of time before the Warriors become a competitive team in the Landmark Conference.
"I think Coach Mackin will continue to help the program grow," he said. "Building a program is one of those things that takes a lot of time. He wants to build a program that year after year can take in young men and train them through lacrosse and teach them to be a better person."
Although, it may be a while before any of those young men approach Franco and Switzer's records.