Chakrian Named Defensive Player of the Year

For Cally Chakrian, excellence in lacrosse is nothing new.

Last week, the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) announced that Chakrian, an East Meadow native, had been named the 2012 Defensive Player of the Year. The honor, selected by a vote by the league’s head lacrosse coaches, was announced at an awards banquet on April 26 at Towson University.

Chakrian and Casey Ancarrow were also named to the All-CAA First Team along with senior teammates Monica Zabel and Caitlin McHugh. Dukes' senior Ashley Kimener was an All-CAA Second Team selection, and redshirt freshman Kaci Starkloff and freshman Schylar Healy were voted to the CAA All-Rookie Team.

Chakrian is the fourth JMU player to receive the Defensive Player of the Year honor. The senior defender led the Dukes with 21 ground balls and was third in the CAA with 19 caused turnovers. She anchored a JMU defense that ranked third in the CAA with 1.36 caused turnovers per game and surrendered the second-fewest number of goals in conference play.

For her career, Chakrian has 124 draw controls (ranking sixth all-time at JMU), 62 caused turnovers (ranked 12th) and 99 ground balls (ranking 18th).