Men's Water Polo Drops Season Opener to Cal Baptist

Sept. 13, 2008

Providence, RI - In its season opener, the Brown men's water polo team (0-1) lost a thrilling double overtime game, 14-13, to Cal Baptist at MIT on Friday night. Senior Mike Gartner (San Jose, CA) led the squad with four goals, while junior goalkeeper Kent Holland (Orinda, CA) tallied 17 saves.

Sophomore Corey Schwartz (Los Angeles, CA) started off the Bears' scoring and gave Brown its first and only lead of the game just three minutes into the match. Bruno was able to finish the first half tied at seven, only to see the Lancers outscore Brown 3-1 in the third.

Down 12-8 with just 3:45 left in the game, Bruno came storming back tallying the next four goals. Gartner, scoring three of the four, tied the game at 12 to end regulation and send the game into overtime. Brown and Cal Baptist exchanged goals in the first overtime period, but the Lancers scored the only goal in the second overtime period to pick up the win.

"It definitely looked like our first game of the season," said Head Coach Felix Mercado. "We committed over 10 turnovers and looked a little lost on defense, but they are all fixable problems. It is nice to get the season started."

Also scoring for Brown was sophomore Gordon Hood (Carlsbad, CA) and senior Grant LeBeau (San Diego, CA) with three goals, sophomore Corey Schwartz (Los Angeles, CA) with two, and junior Zach Levko (Wildwood, MO) with one.

Brown is back in action at 10:15 a.m. today against Johns Hopkins, and will then take on Santa Clara at 5:43 p.m. at the Princeton Invitational.