HARRISONBURG, Va., -- The James Madison lacrosse team has selected three players to serve as team tri-captains to lead the Dukes against a challenging 2012 schedule.
Senior defender Cally Chakrian (East Meadow, N.Y./East Meadow), senior midfielder Annie Brophy (Berwyn, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) and redshirt junior attacker Casey Ancarrow (Jarrettsville, Md./John Carroll) are captains for the Dukes' two-time defending Colonial Athletic Association champion team.
"JMU has relied heavily on this senior class's ability to re-establish the Dukes' lacrosse program as a major contender in the CAA and a program to respect at NCAA tournament time," said JMU coach Shelley Klaes-Bawcombe. "Casey, Cally and Annie have worked hard to take themselves out of their comfort zone in order to lead this team toward our program goals. They have learned to put the team first, and we are very excited to see what comes from a strong captainship and senior class as a whole for this 2012 season."
JMU, ranked ninth in the preseason Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association poll, faces four other preseason top-10 ranked teams in 2012. The slate includes No. 2 Maryland, sixth-ranked Stanford, No. 7 Loyola and 10th-ranked Virginia.
"We wanted to test our leadership early this year and scheduled a very difficult trip out to California (Feb. 23) and Stanford (Feb. 25) to kick off the 2012 season," said Klaes-Bawcombe. "We will face great competition along with the difficulties of the travel, and we are excited to see how our program handles ourselves with that early test. We are also excited about another new opponent in Harvard (March 6), the Ivy League runner-up from 2011. They are fast, physical and return the majority of their roster from last year. It should be a great game for the Dukes."