Garnter Scores Four as No. 17 Brown Men's Water Polo Defeats Johns Hopkins, 12-6
Nov. 21, 2008
Annopolis, MD - Seniors Mike Gartner (San Jose, CA) and Grant LeBeau (San Diego, CA) combined for seven goals as the No. 17 nationally-ranked Brown men's water polo team upended Division III top-ranked Johns Hopkins University, 12-6, in the opening round of the 2008 Eastern Championship at the United States Naval Academy. The win places the Bears into a semifinal showdown with No. 13 ranked and Southern Division champion Princeton University at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 22.
Brown built a 4-0 lead in the first period and never looked back as the Bears increased the margin to 8-2 to halftime and coasted to the six-goal victory.
Senior Nico Fort (Miami, FL) opened the scoring floodgates with 4:52 left in the first period before Gartner, sophomore Gordon Hood (Carlsbad, CA) and Toby Espinosa (Palo Alto, CA) netted goals at 4:16, 2:40 and 1:54, respectively.
The Blue Jays broke up the Bears' shutout bid 21 seconds into the second period on a blast from the wing by Peter Sauerhoff, but Brown tacked on two scores as Gartner and junior Zach Levko (Wildwood, MO) found the back of the cage twice in less than 40 seconds at 5:58 and 5:22 to push the margin to 6-1.
Hopkins sliced the lead to four goals at 4:38 with a goal by Josh Kratz (Lansdale, PA), but the Bears plucked the Jays for a pair of scores as Gartner and senior Hank Weintraub (Los Angeles, CA) tallied an exclusion goal (2:41) and a natural score (2:01) to give Brown a six-goal lead at 8-2 through two periods of play.
The lead was too much for Hopkins to overcome as the Bears pushed the margin to eight goals at 10-2 with 2:25 left in the third to take the win.
LeBeau accounted for the first two goals of the third period as he buried a natural goal at 6:24 and converted on a penalty shot chance at 2:25. Hopkins trimmed the lead back to seven by the end of the period as Jamie Neuwirth (Jr., Ross, Calif.) lobbed a shot that crossed the plane of the goalmouth with 32 ticks left on the clock to pull JHU to within 10-3.
Brown and Hopkins traded goals to open the fourth period as Gartner added his fourth goal and Mark Strickland (Fr., Houston, Texas) rifled shots to the twine at 5:20 and 3:05, respectively. Hopkins pulled to within six at the 2:23 mark on a tally by Kyle Gertridge (Jr., Palo Alto, Calif.), but the Bears built the lead back to seven scores at 2:01 with an exclusion goal by LeBeau. Gertridge closed out the game's scoring with an exclusion score with 41 seconds left on the clock for the 12-6 final.
In the net, Hutchens finished with three saves, while Kent Holland (Jr., Orinda, Calif.) stopped 15 shots to earn Player of the Game honors.
