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No. 12 St. Francis Escapes No. 17 Brown 11-8 in Eastern Championship Third Place Game
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Stefan Gencic (So., Belgrade, Serbia) registered a hat-trick and Nikola Djuric (So., Belgrade, Serbia) notched eight saves to lead No. 12 St. Francis College to an 11-8 win over No. 17 Brown University in the third place game at the 2008 Eastern Championship hosted by the United States Naval Academy.
Following a score by Filip Sasic (Fr., Zagreb, Croatia) to open the first period 3:40 into the game, Brown received the better of play with Mike Gartner (Sr., San Jose, Calif.) and Hank Weintraub (Sr., Los Angeles, Calif.) stopping the clock with goals at 3:55 and 2:11, respectively, to give the Bears a 2-1 lead.
St. Francis tied the game at 1:05 with a catch-and-shoot marker by Gencic, but Brown ended the first eight minutes of play with an exclusion score by Corey Schwartz (So., Los Angeles, Calif.) at the four seconds mark for a 3-2 lead.
The margin grew to 4-2 42 seconds into the second period with an exclusion tally by Gartner, but the Terriers got off the leash for four straight scores as Gencic rattled the cage at 5:47 and 4:11 before Tamas Toth (Fr., Budapest, Hungary) and Szabo Erdei (Fr., Budapest, Hungary) found the net at 3:31 and 2:27, respectively, to put St. Francis in front 6-4.
Brown attempted to close the gap before the end of the period with an exclusion score by Gordon Hood (So., Carlsbad, Calif.) at 2:01, but the Terriers answered before the end of half horn courtesy an advantage goal by Or Gil (Sr., Kibbutz Givat, Israel) at the seven seconds mark.
The game remained tight in the third period with Brown slicing the lead to one at 7-6 91 seconds into the frame via a shot into the right side of the cage by Zach Levko (Jr., Wildwood, Mo.) and knotting the game at 7-7 at the 3:19 mark courtesy an exclusion goal by Gartner.
However, the Terriers responded in kind with a tally by Alexander Pantic (Fr., Belgrade, Serbia) and another by Predrag Predin (Jr., Becej, Serbia) at 2:14 and 1:11, respectively, to put St. Francis back in front by two at 9-7.
The deficit was too much to overcome for Brown as St. Francis pushed the lead to three scores on an exclusion tally by Pantic at 3:03 of the fourth period. Both teams scored from there with Grant LeBeau (Sr., San Diego, Calif.) finding the cage at 2:39 on an exclusion chance and Pal Pasztrai (So., Budapest, Hungary) tacking on the Terriers' 11th goal at the 11 seconds mark, for the 11-8 final.
In cage, Kent Holland (Jr., Orinda, Calif.) made 13 saves for the Bears to earn Player of the Game honors.
| Team | 1 |
2 | 3 | 4 | Final |
| Brown | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 |
| St. Francis | 2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 11 |
St. Francis Goals: Stefan Gencic (3); Alexander Pantic (2); Predrag Predin; Or Gil; Filip Sasic; Tamas Toth; Pal Pasztrai; Szabo Erdei
Brown Goals: Mike Gartner (3); Grant LeBeau; Gordon Hood; Corey Schwartz; Hank Weintraub; Zach Levko
Saves: St. Francis - Nikola Djuric (8) ; Brown - Kent Holland (13)
Ejections: St. Francis - 10 ; Brown - 9
Sprints: St. Francis - 2 (3rd - Or Gil, 4th - Tamas Toth) ; Brown - 2 (1st - Zach Levko, 2nd - Brandon Yoshimura)
