HENNIKER, N.H. - New England College senior midfielder Taylor Bailey (Boscawen, N.H.) of the NEC field hockey team was named the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Defensive Player of the Week for the week ending on October 20th.  

Bailey continues to dominate the middle of the field as an invaluable piece of the NEC defense. Bailey played a key role in shutting down the Simmons University offense on Saturday, holding the Sharks to just four shots on goal in the shutout win. This marked the first time Simmons had been shut out this season. Bailey and co. prevented the GNAC's two leading goal scorers, Simmons' Anna Tedeschi and Sydney Gonyea, from scoring – holding the duo to just three total shots (two on goal) - which was just the second time all season in which they had both been held scoreless. 

"Taylor holds a calm presence in the defensive end, even when the pressure is high," said head coach Carly Sweeney. "She came up with key tackles to protect the backfield last week and set up our midfield beautifully to jump start many attacking transitions." 

While Bailey's defensive impact is oftentimes absent from the stat sheet, her dominance is undisputed. The Bailey-led Pilgrim's defense has been firing on all cylinders this season, leading the GNAC in goals-against average at just 0.87. The team has allowed just 13 goals in 15 games this season, with six shutouts – five of which have come against GNAC opponents.  

The Pilgrims will look to secure one of the top spots in the GNAC standings down the final stretch of the season, first facing off against Regis College in a road matchup on Tuesday at 7:00 PM. The team then meets up with Elms College on Sunday before concluding the regular season against Lasell University on Wednesday, October 30th.  

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