Spurred on by the cheers of about 50 fans, the men's water polo team (14-9, 7-0 CWPA North Division), led by four seniors, took down MIT, 15-10, on Thursday night in their last "home" game of the season.
"It was a good atmosphere," said Assistant Coach John McBride. "You could tell the guys were really excited."
After months of traveling for games in other team's pools, Mike Gartner '09 couldn't agree more.
"It's nice to have the excitement," he said. "It was kind of a treat to have the fans in the stands and all of that."
The evening started off with the national anthem sung by Brown's own Toby Espinosa '12, followed by the honoring of the Brown seniors - Gartner, Nico Fort '09, Grant LeBeau '09 and Hank Weintraub '09 - as a celebration of their last home game.
"It was all done really well," Gartner said. "It was nice to have all the little perks of senior night even though we don't have a home pool."
The game got off to a good start for the Bears, who took a 4-2 lead on the Engineers in the first eight minutes of play. While MIT started to close the gap in the second quarter, Bruno remained steady and went into halftime up 5-4.
Excited, rested, fired up, or calmed down - whatever the Bears were after the halftime, it was good, and Brown took off on a five-goal scoring spree. This brought the score to 10-6 with one quarter remaining. The teams traded goals in the final minutes of play, but the Bears held onto their lead and came out on top with a score of 15-10.
"We just played our game," McBride said. "The game didn't really count for anything, it was just nice for MIT to give us a chance to have another home game. I'm glad that we won and gave the seniors a good send-off."
Brown's offense was led by the seniors, with Gartner scoring six goals, followed by LeBeau with four. Fort was not far behind with two goals, two steals and an assist. An injury limited Weintraub's minutes in the pool, but he still managed to provide two assists and draw two ejections for the Bears.
"These are the four guys that helped change the atmosphere of Brown water polo," McBride said. "These four seniors were at the foundation of the success of this team - getting nationally ranked, getting the recruiting classes that followed - they were the catalyst to where Brown men's water polo is right now."
It was an emotional night for the seniors, as well as for McBride, who has coached the four seniors since their freshman year.
"They are my first recruiting class to graduate," McBride added. "So it's kind of sentimental."
While the spotlight was on the seniors, the victory saw key contributions from many other players, as well. Brandon Yoshimura '11 added two goals for the Bears, and Gordon Hood '11 added another goal to the tally. On the defensive end, Kent Holland '10 recorded nine saves during the first three quarters, while Max Lubin '12 made another three in the fourth. Though Brown is losing a strong graduating class, the future for Brown water polo looks bright, with a wealth of talent among the team's younger players.
"These guys have all done an amazing job," Gartner said. "At the end of the season, you have to be so thankful that you have a team that can give you as much as they give and still go to a school like Brown."
The Bears will now turn their attention to the postseason, as they will travel to Cambridge this weekend for the Northern Division Championships, followed by the Eastern Championships at the Naval Academy from Nov. 21 to Nov. 23.
