May 25, 2008

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Midfielder Lauren Taylor (Manhasset, N.Y.), a two-time All-American who led Yale to a 43-22 mark over the last four seasons and helped the Bulldogs to their third NCAA tournament appearance, is the recipient of the 2008 Nellie Pratt Elliot Award. The award, the most prestigious honor given to a senior female student-athlete at Yale, was announced at Class Day ceremonies on May 25 as part of Yale's Commencement Weekend.

Taylor, who was on the watch list for the Tewaaraton Trophy as the top female collegiate lacrosse player in the country, is a candidate to be named IWLCA All-American again May 29 after earning her fourth IWLCA All-Northeast Region recognition (three first team selections, one second team) Thursday. She was a first team IWLCA All-American last year and a third team selection as a freshman.

Taylor was a unanimous first-team All-Ivy League selection this year and is just the fourth women's lacrosse player in league history, and second in Yale history along with Megan Strenski '02, to be named first team All-Ivy four times. Last year she was the first Yale player to be named Ivy League Player of the Year in the award's 27-year history. She has been a unanimous first team All-Ivy choice for three straight years.

A graduate of Manhasset High, Taylor made an immediate impact on the field for Yale. She scored 92 goals in her first two seasons and was one of 28 players selected for the 2005-06 U.S. Women's Lacrosse Developmental Team.

After her sophomore season, Taylor made the challenging transition from attack to midfield and continued to excel. She won the Barbara Bowditch Award as Yale's most valuable player each of the past two years. In her junior year she led the country in goals per game, scoring 65 in 17 games. This past season she led the Bulldogs with 41 goals and 59 points, the fourth straight season she has led Yale in both of those categories. She finished her career with 198 goals and 246 points, placing second to Tracy Ball '81 on Yale's all-time lists in both categories.

The Bulldogs also experienced tremendous success as a team during Taylor's tenure. They were ranked as high as No. 11 in the country in 2007 and won nine straight games at the end of the regular season to earn the third NCAA tournament berth in school history. Taylor scored the game-winning goals against both Dartmouth and Princeton, helping Yale beat those two teams in the same season for the first time in 16 years.

Yale went 11-5 in 2008 and was ranked as high as No. 10 in the country. That was the 10th time in the last 14 seasons the Bulldogs finished with 11 or more wins. Yale is tied with Georgetown for the nation's second-longest active streak of winning seasons (15), trailing only Maryland (27).

A history of science/history of medicine major in Silliman College, Taylor has also excelled in the classroom. She was a two-time ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District at-large selection (second team 2007, first team 2008) and an Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association Academic Honor Roll selection last year. She is a candidate for ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America honors and Academic All-Ivy League honors this year.

Taylor has taken advantage of some of Yale's most unique academic programs. As a freshman, she was selected for Yale's Directed Studies program, a one-year honors program in history, literature and political science. As a junior she was one of seven students selected to be part of a five-year academic program in public health, taking graduate-level courses. After getting her B.A. this year she will receive a Masters degree in public health from Yale next year.

Taylor has been extensively involved in the community as well. After her freshman year she worked for the Red Cross in New York City. She revived the organization's children's programs, which had been cut because of funding redistribution after Sept. 11. She spoke with more than 1,000 children about health issues and created an instructional handbook on how to start similar programs.

In her junior year Taylor was one of 34 students selected for the Yale Alumni Community Service Fellowship. As part of that program she spent the summer of 2007 running the Ford Fellowship Program at the 92nd Street Y (a cultural center) in New York City. The Ford Fellowship Program was designed with the goal of enhancing the efforts of emerging leaders in communities throughout the world.

For her senior year, Taylor was selected as a freshman counselor for her residential college. Counselors are responsible for easing the transition of incoming freshmen to the academic, social and cultural life of Yale College. Taylor has also served as a Yale Female Athlete Mentor and has been a member of the student focus group for Yale's Women's Intercollegiate Sports Endowment and Resource (WISER).

This summer Taylor will work for Boundless Playgrounds, the first national nonprofit dedicated to helping communities create barrier-free playgrounds where children with and without disabilities can play together. Based in Bloomfield, Conn., the company's CEO is former Yale football captain Fred Leone '82.

Taylor will return to Yale in the fall to complete her Masters degree.

The Nellie Pratt Elliot Award in named in honor of Nellie Pratt Elliot, who was an assistant director of undergraduate admissions at Yale for 46 years. It was presented in conjunction with the William Neely Mallory Award for the top senior male student-athlete at Yale. That award went to baseball player Josh Cox (Gainesville, Fla.).

report by Sam Rubin '95 (sam.rubin@yale.edu), Yale Sports Publicity