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Brown University Set to Make Mark and Eastern Championship Field in 2009
Providence, RI- The Brown
women’s water polo team is ready to begin the 2009 season as
it opens up with matches against Michigan and NYAC on Sunday, Feb.
15 during the Harvard Invitational. Led by 2008 CWPA Northern
Division Coach of the Year Felix Mercado, the Bears will be looking
to build on last year’s season-ending 11-3 run that included
a fifth place finish at the 2008 CWPA Eastern Championship.
Leading the way for Brown is two of the team’s top three
scorers from last year, as juniors Lauren Presant (Poway,
Calif.) and Sarah Glick (Bonita, Calif.)
return to guide a dominant Bears’ attack. Presant tallied 105
points on a team-high 87 goals on the season to earn All-North
honors for the second time, and was also a two-time CWPA Player of
the Week, winning the honor back-to-back on March 31 and April 7
(2008).
Glick, another two-time All-North selection, combined for 141
points after scoring 63 goals and had a team-high 78 assists and 44
steals. A dominant force for the Brown offense, Glick was named the
Northern Division Player of the Week on March 18 (2008) after
tallying four goals, three assists and three steals, two ejections
drawn in a win over Harvard.
Sophomore center Joanna Wohlmuth (Manhattan Beach,
Calif.) will also be a presence on offense, while
sophomore Kathertne Stanton (Danville, Calif.) and
senior captain Rory Stanton (Danville, Calif.)
will control the other end of the pool at center defense in front
of junior goalkeeper Stephanie Laing (Ann Arbor,
Mich.). Wohlmuth was a solid contributor for the Bears
last season, scoring 28 goals while handing out five assists.
The Stanton sisters will look to hold down the feisty Bruno
defense, as Rory, a senior, scored 19 goals and had 15 assists last
season, drawing 28 ejections. Katherine, a sophomore, will help
solidify the talented tandem. Last season, she scored 16 goals,
handed out 17 assists, and swiped 42 steals.
Laing will handle the majority of duties in net this season, and
is coming off a solid sophomore campaign. Laing stopped 37 percent
of the shots she faced, posting a 10.04 goals-against average.
Helping Laing in the net is rookie Misa Scharfen (Santa
Rosa, Calif.), who Mercado is expecting great things from
her in the future. Scharfen was the goalie for Ursuline High in
Santa Rosa, Calif. She is a First Team All-League North Coast
Section CIF honoree, and is a three-time scholar-athlete at
Ursuline.
Mercado is also looking to junior Rita Bullwinkel (Portola
Valley, Calif.) to step in and help out in the pool, while
newcomers Sam Ryu (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and
Bethany Kwoka (San Mateo, Calif.) are also
expected to help lead the Bears to its first League title since
2001.
Kwoka and Ryu are both utility players from California. A graduate
of San Mateo High, Kwoka was a four-time MVP of her team, and
played her club polo for the Stanford Women's Water Polo Club. Ryu
is a graduate of Cate School in Santa Barbara, where she was named
First Team All-Tri-Valley League and her team's MVP this
season.
After competing at the Harvard Invitational, the Bears head to the
Princeton Invite where they take on Maryland and Bucknell on
February 21, and then Villanova and Princeton the following day.
Release courtesy Brown University Athletic Communications
