Five Dukes Earn IWLCA All-Region Honors; Four First Team Selections

NORTHBOROUGH, Mass. – James Madison lacrosse earned five selections as IWLCA All-South Region, as redshirt seniors Mairead Durkin and Rachel Matey, senior Tai Jankowski and redshirt junior Isabella Peterson were named to the First Team while redshirt senior Kat Buchanan took Second Team All-Region on Thursday.

Peterson grabbed her third IWLCA All-Region selection, Durkin her second while Buchanan, Jankowski and Matey each received their first All-Region honors in their career.

Durkin remained a force on defense all season with 43 caused turnovers and 31 ground balls, ranking ninth in the country with 2.26 caused turnovers per game. She has multiple caused turnovers in 14 of her 19 games and multiple ground balls in 10. Durkin has helped the defense give up just 7.26 goals per game which ranks third in Division I.

Joining Durkin on defense and the First Team is Matey, a three-year captain. She leads the roster with 40 ground balls, has caused 19 turnovers and is tied with Peterson for the team lead with 81 draw controls. Matey has 10 games with multiple ground balls and five with multiple caused turnovers this season. She has helped JMU in the circle to a .584 draw control percentage, 10th in the country.

Jankowski has set career highs on attack in 2023 with 50 goals and 20 assists and has 10 of her 13 career hat tricks. The Bridgewater, N.J. native is 18-for-24 from the free position this year as her 75.0% clip from the eight-meter is second-best in the country and her 18 free-position goals are tied for seventh-most.

Peterson has helped herself to a career year, setting career highs with 78 goals and 20 assists for a 98-point season thus far, becoming the JMU leader in career goals on April 29. She has 16 hat tricks and eight performances of at least five goals. Peterson also has 81 draw controls, the only player in Division I to score at least 70 goals and control 80 draws.

Buchanan has excelled in her opportunity in goal with the third-best goals-against average in the country at 7.47 and the 16th-best save percentage at .482 in 1,052 minutes played. She has stopped at least half of opponent shots on goal 12 times this year and set career highs in saves in key wins against both Maryland (March 1) and Virginia (March 22). She was named IWLCA Division I Defensive Player of the Week twice during the regular season.

The quintet of All-Region honorees matched their American Athletic Conference postseason award selections on May 3, with Peterson and Durkin also garnering major awards as Attack Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, respectively. During the season, the five players combined for 17 weekly awards, with Peterson and Matey leading the team with five apiece.

Nationally, all five players were picked for the Tewaaraton Award Watch List. Durkin and Peterson advanced as part of 25 nominees on April 20 and Peterson was then selected as a finalist on May 11. Durkin and Peterson also took First Team All-American honors from USA Lacrosse Magazine on May 9.

No. 7 JMU (17-2, 6-0) will face No. 14 Army (15-3, 8-1) in Harrisonburg on Friday, May 12 at 2 p.m. in the 2023 NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship first round.

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