FRANKLIN, Mass. - The New England College field hockey team saw their postseason run come to an end in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) semifinals as they suffered a narrow 1-0 loss to the top seed Dean Bulldogs on Wednesday afternoon at Grant Field. 

The first half was defensively dominated by both teams with Dean putting up the only three shots on goal through the first 30 minutes of action. Senior Makenzie Anderson (Antrim, N.H.) denied all three shots to send a 0-0 tie into halftime. 

The momentum began to shift in the third quarter as it was the Pilgrims who dominated the time of possession and began to put shots on goal, forcing Sara Gardner to make three saves in the frame to keep NEC off the scoreboard. With 2:18 left in the third, sophomore Kira Geddes (Bow, N.H.) had the best scoring chance of the game, to that point, but Gardner made a great save to keep the game scoreless. 

The beginning of the fourth quarter signaled another shift towards the Dean sideline as the Bulldogs revitalized their offensive pressure in the fourth. With just over three minutes to go in the game, Anderson made a flurry of stops for the Pilgrims, but the Bulldogs embraced the chaos in front of the Pilgrims net and capitalized as Katrina Lee found Emily Kilpatrick for the go-ahead goal with 3:07 remaining. 

The Pilgrims were unable to put another shot on goal over the final couple of minutes as their season came to an end in the GNAC semifinals. The defensive battle ended with more total corners (10) than shots on goal (9) as Dean narrowly outshot NEC, 5-4. 

Dean advances to the GNAC finals and will face the winner of #2 St. Joseph's (ME) and #3 Colby-Sawyer who play later tonight. 

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