Colorado’s Lily Assini, Elena Oh, Jess Peluso, and Maddie Shoup were named to the 2026 Nike Lacrosse Media All-America teams as announced by Inside Lacrosse on May 15. This marks the fourth consecutive season that Colorado Buffaloes players have received national recognition in these awards.
The recognition highlights the ongoing success of the Buffaloes women’s lacrosse program and underscores individual achievements within a competitive national field. Peluso earned a second-team selection, which is the highest honor for a Colorado player since 2018. This is her second straight year being honored as a Nike Lacrosse Media All-American after receiving an honorable mention last season.
Peluso became the first player in program history to win multiple conference player of the year awards, securing back-to-back Big 12 Defender of the Year titles. She started all 20 games this season and led her conference with an average of 2.11 caused turnovers per game while helping anchor one of the nation’s top defenses. Peluso also won four Big 12 Defender of the Week honors and one Big 12 Draw Specialist of the Week award this season. She now holds school records for career caused turnovers (113), ranks fifth in draw controls (161), and sixth in ground balls (110). Peluso was named to both the Preseason Tewaarton Watch List and was a unanimous All-Big 12 selection.
Shoup received third-team honors, marking her first selection at this level after previously being named an honorable mention by USA Lacrosse Magazine last week. Shoup led Colorado’s offense with team highs in goals (47) and assists (24). Her assist total ranks sixth all-time at Colorado, while her single-season point total (71) is seventh-best in school history. After scoring eight points during a double-overtime loss to Northwestern, she moved into tenth place all-time at Colorado with 142 career points. Following an eight-goal performance during the conference tournament, Shoup was named Big 12 Tournament Most Outstanding Player.
Assini and Oh were both recognized as honorable mentions by Inside Lacrosse; they had also been honored by USA Lacrosse Magazine earlier this month along with their teammates. Assini finished fourth on her team with thirty goals and ranked second with twenty-three assists while maintaining a streak of thirty-four consecutive games registering at least one point through last season into this year.
Oh posted sixteen wins as goalkeeper for Colorado—the most ever recorded in a single season for CU—and allowed only an average of just under seven goals per game nationally leading both conference and country statistics in that category. She collected seven Big 12 Goalkeeper of the Week awards this year alone—bringing her career total to eleven—and was included on both Tewaarton Watch List selections as well as being voted unanimously onto All-Big-12 teams; she is also noted as being first from CU to win Goalkeeper-of-the-Year accolades.
These four selections represent more than any previous single-year showing from Inside Lacrosse Media for Colorado women’s lacrosse: it brings their cumulative tally up through thirteenth overall such honorees from that publication since inception.
