Janelle Bartman

PROVIDENCE, RI  -- Madison Pepper (Fr., Baytown, Texas/Sterling) scored four times, including three in the second half, to garner Player of the Game accolades as Brown University overpowered Gannon University 16-6 in the opening round of the 2012 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Eastern Championship at the Bears' Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center.

The victory advances Brown (20-15, 5-3 CWPA Southern Division) to a 6:20 p.m. showdown with No. 12-nationally ranked Indiana University in the tournament quarterfinals.  A Bears' victory versus the Hoosiers would guarantee a berth in the semifinals against either Princeton University or Harvard University.

Hosting the Eastern Championship for the first time since the 2006 season, Bruno put the game away in the first half as the team built a 4-0 lead after a period of play on the way to an 8-1 advantage by halftime.

The key to the early lead was the play of Emily McNamara (So., Winters, Calif./St. Francis) who scored at the 7:39 and 22 seconds marks to sandwich scoring shots by Samantha Ryu (Sr., Santa Barbara, Calif./Cate School) and Brittany Westerman (Jr., Palo Alto, Calif./Deerfield Academy) at 4:36 and 3:03, respectively, of the first quarter.

Brown continued to build the lead to begin the second period as Rebecca Zak (Fr., Carlsbad, Calif./Carlsbad), Kate Woods (So., La Jolla, Calif./La Jolla), Pepper and Ryu dumped in shots at 6:40, 4:14, 4:05 and 2:58, respectively, to make it an 8-0 game with near three minutes left in the first half.

Gannon broke up a shutout bid by Bears' goalie Evan Cranston (Fr., Palo Alto, Calif./Castilleja) with 2:42 remaining on the clock as Molly Andrews (Sr., Tustin, Calif./Tustin) collected a loose ball and drilled a blast past the Brown netminder to pull her team within 8-1.

The Golden Knights chipped away at the deficit to begin the third quarter as Janelle McDaniels (Fr., Edwardsville, Pa./Wyoming Valley West) and Kelsey Rzymek (So., Erie, Pa./McDowell) whipped in shots at the 6:02 and 4:53 marks to close the gap to 8-3.

However, the Bears outscored Gannon 4-1 over the remainder of the period and 4-2 in the fourth quarter to claim a 10-goal victory over the Golden Knights for the second time in 2012.

Earlier in the season, Brown downed Gannon 20-6 as the Bears are now 8-8 against the other Eastern Championship competing teams with previous contests versus Bucknell University (8-7 W), Hartwick College (21-13 L, 11-7 L), George Washington University (9-6 W, 10-9 L), University of Maryland (12-7 L), Indaina (12-11 L), Princeton University (18-8 L, 9-8 L), Mercyhurst University (13-4 W, 11-3 W), University of Michigan (7-5 W) and Harvard University (7-6 W, 7-5 L).

For Gannon, Andrews and McDaniels led the way with pairs of markers, while Colleen Harriger (Sr., Erie, Pa./McDowell) and Rzymek contributed solo strikes.

In cage, Cranston and Sarah Shinn (So., Fullerton, Calif./Sunny Hills) combined for nine saves in leading Brown to victory, while Janelle Bartman (Jr., Darien, Ill./Adlai E. Stevenson) notched four stops for Gannon.

The Golden Knights will next compete at 11:20 a.m. on Saturday, April 28 against Mercyhurst University in a meeting of crosstown rivals with a spot in the ninth place game set for Sunday, April 29 at 10:30 a.m. on the line.

Brown Goals: Madison Pepper (4); Emily McNamara (2); Rebecca Zak (2); Samantha Ryu (2); Liz Rosen (2); Brittany Westerman (2); Kate Woods; Malaika Drebin

Gannon Goals: Molly Andrews (2); Janelle McDaniels (2); Colleen Harriger; Kelsey Rzymek

Saves: Brown - Evan Cranston (6, 24 minutes); Sarah Shinn (3, 8 minutes) ; Gannon - Janelle Bartman (4)

Exclusions: Brown - 4 ; Gannon - 6

Advantage Opportunities: Brown - 1-for-6 ; Gannon - 2-for-6

Sprints: Brown - 4-for-4 ; Gannon - 0-for-4

Cards: None

Officials: Hadi Farid, Val Vasilchikov

Gannon University's Molly Andrews shoots as Brown University's Sarah Presant (#10) and Madison Pepper (#4) close