Nov. 12, 2006

PRINCETON, NJ - Gerrit Adams, Hank Weintraub, Nico Fort and Grant LeBeau scored pairs of goals as the Brown University Bears held off Johns Hopkins University 12-11 in the fifth place game at the 2006 Collegiate Water Polo Association Eastern Championship at Princeton University. Junior Sean McCreery (Pleasant Hill, CA/De La Salle) was named to the First Team All-Tournament Team.

The Bears put the game away in the first period as six Brown players found the back of the goal with shots as Adams (6:02), LeBeau (2:53), Luke Samson (1:58), Zach Levko (1:20) and Mike Gartner (00:19) netted even strength goals, while Nico Fort (3:55) tacked on an exclusion marker, to take a 6-2 lead through eight minutes of play.

Hopkins saw their deficit grow in the second period as Brown outscored the Blue Jays 4-3 to carry at 10-5 lead into halftime.

JHU rallied in the opening minutes of the third period as McCreery scored twenty seconds in to pull the Blue Jays to within four goals. Sophomore Alex Bond (North Wales, PA/ Germantown Academy) chipped in another goal 27 seconds later as he beat his defender and ripped a shot into the left side of the goal to move to within 10-7.

The teams traded goals as Hank Weintraub deked his defender and blasted a shot to put the Bears back up by four goals, but Hopkins put in the next two scores as freshman Kyle Gertridge (Paolo Alto, CA/Gunn) and McCreery tallied goals at 5:40 and 5:02, respectively, to shave the lead to 11-9. Brown responded with an exlcusion goal at 3:59 by Weintraub, but Johns Hopkins appeared primed to rally for the comeback win as the Blue Jays' junior Chris Hemmerle (Harleysville, PA/ Souderton) and freshman Reid Fox (Harleysville, PA/Souderton)scored at 2:40 and 1:10 to set up a 12-11 Brown lead entering the fourth period.

However, the Bears' defense held off Hopkins in the fourth as neither team was able to score for the one goal margin of victory.

In goal, sophomore Chris Hutchens (Los Altos, CA/ Bellarmine Prep) made five saves for JHU, while Kent Holland blocked away four shots to earn the win.

Brown Goals: Gerrit Adams (2); Hank Weintraub (2); Nico Fort (2); Grant LeBeau (2); Mike Gartner; Zach Levko; Luke Samson; Stu Thompson
Johns Hopkins Goals: Sean McCreery (3); Chris Hemmerle (3); Alex Bond (3); Reid Fox; Kyle Gertridge

Brown Goalie Saves: Kent Holland (4)
Johns Hopkins Goalie Saves: Chris Hutchens (5)