Brown University
Fordham
Men's Water Polo Defeats Fordham; Falls to St. Francis
9/27/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
The Brown men's water polo team played two tough Northern
Division contests this afternoon. The Bears picked up an 11-9
victory against Fordham, but then fell 12-5 to St. Francis.
In the first game against Fordham, both teams posted two goals in
the first quarter, but the Rams gained a 5-3 lead four minutes into
the second quarter. But with the two goals scored by Svetozar Stefanovic (Belgrade, Serbia) and another by Gordon Hood (Carlsbad,
CA), Bruno went on a 3-0 run to the end the first half with a 6-5
lead.
The Bears kept up the outstanding offensive effort extending its
lead to 9-7 after the third, only to see Fordham come back and even
the score at nine before Hood and sophomore Marcus Gartner (San
Jose, CA) finished with back-to-back goals to seal the win. Senior
Kent Holland (Orinda, CA) did outstanding in the cage, picking up
15 saves against the Rams, including two penalty blocks.
Also helping the offense was senior Zach Levko (Wildwood, MO), who
posted one goal in the win.
“Out shooters finally came alive during this game,”
said Head Coach Felix Mercado. “Fordham is a very good team
and we needed help from our perimeter players. It was nice to see
Gordon (Hood) step up and put the ball in the back of the cage.
It's also great to know that we have Kent (Holland)
protecting our net.”
Game two didn't go as well for the Bears, as St. Francis
stormed out to a 4-0 lead after the first eight minutes of play and
went on to extend it to 8-2 by halftime. Brown went just five of 45
on offense, and the hot-shooting Terriers were able to turn it into
eight counter attack goals to win the game, 12-5.
"We played against one of the best goalies in the country today and their team turned his performance into goals," added Mercado. "We now know what we need to do to improve as a team. It was nice to see us shooting the ball, we just have to score it now."
Holland and Lubin split time in the cage on the defensive end.Ryan Gladych (Corona Del Mar, CA) led Brown's offense with two goals, as Stefanovic, Cyrus Mojdehi (La Jolla, CA) and Brandon Yoshimura (Haverford, PA) each added one. Holland recorded nine saves in the first half, while Max Lubin (Beverly Hills, CA) came in for the second half to tally six saves.
Stefanovic added 5 ejections drawn to his goal and Yoshimura added 3 steals to his goal.
Brown will now challenge Harvard at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 10, and will follow up with a 10:00 a.m. match against Iona on Sunday.
