Unfortunately for the men's water polo team, history has a habit of repeating itself.
In an outcome reminiscent of earlier losses to Harvard University and Johns Hopkins University where Brown could not execute last-second plays following timeouts, the Bears dropped a 6-5 decision to No. 17 Bucknell University in the first round of the Eastern Champion-ships last weekend. Despite having a man-advantage with 13 seconds remaining, Brown failed to put the ball in the net.
The loss left the Bears to battle for the fifth-place spot, which they ultimately took after a 10-6 win over Iona College and a 9-8 overtime victory against No. 20 Slippery Rock University. The latter victory gave Brown a fifth place finish in the tournament. For the seniors, their final match will be remembered as a win, but it was hard for the players to feel anything but grief when all was said and done.
"We had our chances, and that was the worst part about losing (to Bucknell)," said Gerrit Adams '08. "We just didn't convert."
Also named to the All-Northern Division teams were Mike Gartner '09 and co-captain and goaltender Jay Fantone '06 to the First Team, and Hank Weintraub '09 to the second.
Bruno entered the tournament seeded fourth out of eight, but drew a ranked opponent in Bucknell in the first round. The Bison had beaten Brown by the score of 5-2 in the second round of last year's Eastern Championships, but this match was bound to be closer, as Brown entered the game having already beaten two ranked opponents.
Indeed, the first half was back and forth and the score was knotted 2-2 after one quarter on goals from Adams and Weintraub, and 4-3 at the half on a goal from Grant LeBeau '09.
Though the first half went well, Bruno had work to do defensively, as Bucknell was dominating the inside game.
"In the second half, we tried to crash (Bucknell's hole set) a little more and not leave our hole-defense out to dry," said Luke Samson '07. "They know how good Gerrit is, and would try to swim him out (in the first half), and match up another one of their hole sets on one of our players."
The greater inside pressure on Bucknell worked, as Brown held the Bison to two goals in the second half. Unfortunately, Brown was unable to come up with more than two for itself. Scores from Adams and co-captain Andy Wiener '06, both in the third quarter, brought the Bears' tally to five. Wiener's goal evened the score at 5-5 with 1:36 left in the third quarter.
Bucknell scored again to go up 6-5 with just under six minutes remaining, but Brown's fourth quarter offense went flat, misfiring shots and squandering three 6-on-5 opportunities - including one with 13 seconds to go - to end the game.
But for Brown, at least on Saturday, having a man-advantage was not much of a gift.
"We couldn't get the ball inside to Gartner like we had done most of the season," Samson said. "So we had to take lower percentage shots, and that's what happened. We took a low percentage shot and it missed."
As for whether failures earlier this season in comparable situations weighed on the minds of the players, Samson was non-committal.
"(It was) not on my mind personally, but subconsciously, I wasn't going in there feeling extremely confident since we hadn't really pulled off a successful play at the end of the game like that all season," he said.
After the Bucknell game, the Bears were playing for dignity, and were able to maintain some. The team's next match was a 10-8 win Saturday afternoon over Iona, which Brown had defeated twice earlier this season.
A strong first half gave Brown a 6-3 lead, which was ultimately stretched to a comfortable 10-6 with four minutes left. Fantone registered 10 saves, while Lebeau and Adams each netted three.
Brown closed out the tournament Sunday, taking on Slippery Rock in the fifth-place game. The Bears won a penalty-ridden 9-8 match after two overtime periods, the final goal coming from Gartner, his fourth on the day. Graeme Lee-Wingate '06 - playing with an injured elbow, which will require surgery in the off-season - scored two gritty goals in his final collegiate match. Wiener also notched a goal to round out his career.
While frustrating for the players, the season's end was telling of the Bears' yearlong struggles with consistency, shot accuracy and timely play. Luckily, Brown has a solid core of youth that is coming of age, and is expecting a large incoming class for 2006.
One of the bigger questions will be whether the team can avoid a drop in talent at goaltender - Fantone was one of Brown's most consistent players during his tenure, and the team does not currently have a goalie on the roster. But Samson said the team has recruited hard in this area, and does not expect a gaping hole.
