Water Polo Falls 15-5 in Northern Division Championship

Nov. 9, 2008

Cambridge, MA - In the CWPA Northern Division Championship on Sunday afternoon, the top-seeded Brown men's water polo team dropped a 15-5 decision to second seed St. Francis. Leading the scoring was senior Grant LeBeau (San Diego, CA), who tallied three goals.

The Bears, who posted a 9-8 win over St. Francis earlier this season, got off to a slow start, scoring just three goals to the Terriers' nine. While the Bears did a stellar job of creating power plays, especially senior Mike Gartner (San Jose, CA) who drew eight of the 17 ejections against St. Francis, Brown was only able to convert two of 17. Many of the misses led to fast break goals by the feisty Terrier attack. St. Francis continued its run, scoring two goals in the third and four in the fourth while holding Brown to just two goals in the second stanza to pick up a 15-5 win.

"We got our tails kicked today," said Head Coach Felix Mercado. "I felt that we made mistakes and St. Francis turned them into goals."

Junior Kent Holland (Orinda, CA) led Brown's defense with seven saves and two steals. Also scoring was sophomore Gordon Hood (Carlsbad, CA) and Gartner with one each.

The Bears will now prepare for the Eastern Championships in Annapolis, MD on the campus of Navy. Fourth-seeded Brown will challenge the fifth-seeded Johns Hopkins in the opening round on November 21st.