March proved to be a milestone month for the Emerson men’s lacrosse team as two players joined the Lions’ 100-point club, and another broke the single-season scoring record.

Graduate attacker Austin Franklin and senior midfielder Skyler Celotto became the fourth and fifth players to join the Lions’ 100-point club, while sophomore attacker Birk Swan broke the single-season scoring record of 59 points. Franklin and Celotto have amassed 108 and 115 career points, respectively, and Swan currently sits at 69 points on the season with three games remaining.

Franklin said joining the 100-point club meant a lot to him, especially since he got to share the moment with Celotto—a teammate and close friend. He said he and his teammates are more focused on group success than individual achievements.

“I don’t think either of us really keep track of our stats too closely—if that’s what we were concerned with, we would have played golf or tennis or something,” Franklin said. “But it was exciting to find out we got to 100 points in the same game.”

Head Coach Matt Colombini said the players’ individual successes contributed heavily to the team’s performance as a whole. Colombini noted a “dramatic jump” in the team’s record between previous seasons and this one—shifting from 4-68 overall at the beginning of the year to 11-3 this season.

“A lot of the success pieces that have come this year have been just delayed because we haven’t been able to play the past few years,” Colombini said. “I’m just really happy for those guys… All the hard work they’ve put in is really paying off.”

For Franklin, joining the 100-point club resulted from a “culmination of a full career” of hard work.

“I owe a lot of my success to the extra time that I put in, whether it be getting extra shots in the offseason, getting on a wall and doing stick skills or getting in the weight room,” Franklin said.

Franklin isn’t the only player who puts in work for his team. Swan, for one, holds even more assists than points scored. The day Swan broke the scoring record, Colombini said, the team saved the game ball for him and presented it to him in the post-game huddle.

“He said thank you to everybody else,” Colombini said. “He acknowledged that everybody else contributed to the record he was able to break.”

With games against Babson College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Coast Guard Academy remaining in the season, Colombini said he and the team are looking to finish strong and continue their upward trajectory. 

“We’ve already scored more goals than any other team,” Colombini said. “We’ve won more games, we’ve won our second conference game ever… [it’s] the payoff of all the hard work those guys have put in.”

As his last year of college lacrosse comes to a close, Franklin said he’s focused on enjoying the final moments with teammates and friends.

“I’m a nose to the grindstone kind of guy,” Franklin said. “I try to live in the moment and pick my head up when it’s all said and done. We’ve got three weeks. At the very least, we’ll make the playoffs and then we’ll make some noise.”

Neither Celotto nor Swan could be reached for comment.