IRVING, Texas – Following a successful week that featured a win over the fifth-ranked team in the country, James Madison lacrosse student-athletes Kat Buchanan, Mairead Durkin and Tai Jankowski all earned weekly honors from the American Athletic Conference on Monday.

Buchanan was named Goalkeeper of the Week, Durkin the Defensive Player of the Week and Jankowski garnered Attack Player of the Week, as the trio helped JMU to a 2-0 week in which it outscored opponents 24-14. JMU took three of five available weekly honors from the league.

Buchanan, a redshirt senior, took her first goalkeeping honor of the season after a week with 16 saves, a 6.83 GAA and a .552 save percentage. Against No. 5 Maryland, she stopped a career-high 10 shots on a .588 save percentage, making four of those stops in the fourth quarter to halt a Terps’ comeback. Buchanan also led the roster with five ground balls throughout the week.

Durkin, the conference’s Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, caused four turnovers across the two victories. She reached 100 career caused turnovers on Wednesday, the sixth player to do so in James Madison lacrosse history. She currently leads the conference with 2.5 caused turnovers per game.

The duo’s defensive efforts held opponents to a 7.0 scoring average throughout the week and a 26.9% shooting clip from the field. The Dukes have now held five straight opponents to single-digit goals for the first time since 2019 and allowed its fewest goals to Maryland since 1988 on Wednesday.

Offensively, Jankowski powered the Dukes with eight points, scoring five goals and adding three assists. She had her fourth hat trick of the season against Ohio State in a six-point performance and shot 45.5% in total throughout the week.

The senior is sixth in the league with 2.83 goals per game and tied for fifth with 4.0 points per game.

The Dukes’ performance last week moved them up four spots to No. 8 in the ILWomen/IWLCA Division I Poll released on Monday.

In total, JMU has taken six Player of the Week awards from The American in the season’s first four weeks, all awarded to different players.

American Athletic Conference Weekly Awards
Rachel Matey – Defensive (Feb. 20)
Isabella Peterson – Attack (Feb. 27)
Maddie Epke – Freshman (Feb. 27)
Kat Buchanan – Goalkeeper (March 6)
Mairead Durkin – Defensive (March 6)
Tai Jankowski – Attack (March 6)

— JMU Athletics —