BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- For the second time this season and fourth time in her career, Bridgewater State College senior goaltender Nicole Downs has been named the Little East Conference (LEC) Field Hockey Defensive Player of the Week. Downs earned the honor as she helped lead the Bears to a pair of Little East Conference wins last week over Salem State and Worcester State.

A native of Hanover, Massachusetts, Downs posted a 2-0 record last week and registered 13 saves without allowing a goal in 133 minutes and 14 seconds between the pipes.  She turned aside 10 shots in a 1-0 overtime victory at Salem, earning her second shutout of the season.  Downs then made 3 saves before being replaced late in the second half as the Bears shutout Worcester, 3-0, snapping a four-game losing streak to the Lancers.

Downs, who has started all eight games for the Bears this season, currently owns a 6-2 record with 49 saves and a 1.28 goals against average.  She is tied for the Little East lead in shutouts with 2 and is third in the conference with her 1.28 goals against average.

The Bears are currently 6-2 on the season and 3-2 in the Little East Conference.  The last time that the BSC field hockey team opened the season with six wins in their first eight games was in 1995.