Fordham Edges Bears 8-7 in Fifth Place Game at Eastern Championship

Cambridge, MA- The Brown University men’s water polo team closed out the 2009 Eastern Championships at MIT with an 8-7 loss in the fifth place game to Fordham. Junior Gordon Hood (Carlsbad, CA) led the offense with three goals, while Corey Schwartz (Los Angeles, CA) added two.

The Rams never trailed in the game opening a 2-0 lead in the first period on a pair of scores by Fordham’s Ali Arat at 6:45 and 1:34 to take the lead for good. Brown halved the margin 1:04 into the second period with a goal by Corey Schwartz, but the Rams pushed back with a man-up tally by Andrew Dentinger at the 5:23 mark to make it 3-1.

The exchange continued throughout the period until Fordham’s Victor Bautista Medina and Arat tallied back-to-back goals at 2:38 and 1:44, respectively, to build its lead to 6-2. But the Bears answered with consecutive scores by Schwartz and junior Gordon Hood with 1:29 and 36 seconds left in the second period to make it 6-4 at the break.

Both teams found the cage in the third period as Andrew McKernin added the Rams’ seventh goal and Hood pumped in two to bury the Bears’ fifth goal to keep the Rams in front by two, 7-5, through 24 minutes of play.

Arat closed the deal for Fordham 1:52 into the fourth with his fourth and the team’s final goal of the day to make it 8-5, a deficit which the Bears could not overcome with the clock winding down.

The Bears attempted to rally back as Dean Serure (Coral Gables, FL) netted a man-up goal at 5:44 and Hood dumped in an even-strength goal with 4:14 to play, but the Rams’ defense held firm the rest of the way to protect the lead and earn the win.

Hood and Schwartz led the Brown offense with three and two goals apiece, while senior captain Kent Holland (Orinda, CA) combined for six saves.