ANN ARBOR, Mich. --Madison Pepper (So., Baytown, Texas/Sterling) put away four shots, including a first quarter hat-trick, as Brown University overpowered Division III No. 9-ranked Connecticut College by a 17-6 final score in the opening round of the 2013 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Eastern Championship at the University of Michigan's Canham Natatorium.

The win advances the Bears (16-19, 5-3 CWPA Southern Division) to a 7:20 p.m. match-up tonight against the host/No. 18-ranked Wolverines of Michigan.  Brown is 0-1 against the Wolverines this year as the team fell 11-7 at home during the Bruno Invitational in Providence, R.I.

Against the Camels of Connecticut College, Pepper started the Bears' scoring just 14 seconds into the game as she swept in a shot at 7:46 to make it 1-0.  The margin expanded to 2-0 at the 4:58 mark as Pepper converted on a man-up opportunity, before Olivia Santiago (Fr., Los Altos, Calif./Los Altos) blasted a ball into the back of the cage at even-strength to make it 3-0.

Following a man-up tally by the Camels' Nicky Jasbon (So., Greenacres, Fla./Saint Andrew) at the 2:28 mark to break-up a shutout bid by Bears' goalie Sarah Shin (Jr., Fullerton, Calif./Sunny Hills), Pepper wrapped up a first quarter hat-trick by pounding a pass past Connecticut College goalie Ashley Amey (Fr., Napa, Calif./Napa) with 1:28 on the clock to make it a 4-1 lead.

Brown tacked on one final score before the quarter-ending horn as Emily Klein (So., Pleasanton, Calif./Foothill) contributed her team's second six-on-five tally with 49 seconds on the clock to make it 5-1 and place the Bears comfortably in front.

Katharine Booher (Sr., Palo Alto, Calif./Castilleja) expanded the lead to 6-1 48 seconds into the second quarter with her first tally of the afternoon.  Connecticut College's Kate Jacobson (So., Collegeville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) answered with a man-up goal 42 seconds later at the 6:30 mark, but Booher registered an even-strength strike with 2:46 left in the first half to return the lead to five at 7-2.

The teams traded goals to the halftime buzzer as Jasbon (2:25) and Victoria Pierotti (Fr., Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar) broke free with wide open shots to make it 8-3 in favor of the Bears through 16 minutes of play.

Brown shattered the Camels' dreams of a comeback bid in the third quarter as Pepper (6:46), Santiago (3:54) and Malaika Drebin (Jr., Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto) (1:07) racked up even-strength goals, while Sarah Presant (Jr., Poway, Calif./Bishops School) chipped in her team's third man-up goal of the contest, to account for a 4-0 run by the Bears to widen the gap to 12-3 entering the fourth quarter.

The lead continued to balloon out of control to start the final quarter as Rebecca Zak (So., Carlsbad, Calif./Carlsbad) lined in back-to-back shots at 7:19 and 6:09, while Klein and Emma Dodd (Fr., Pasadena, Calif./Pasadena) dented the twine at 5:25 and 4:19, respectively, to make it 16-3.

Kayla Stormont (Sr., Hilo, Hawaii/Kamehameha) wrapped up a 10-0 scoring run by Brown dating back to the 2:05 mark of the second quarter by arching in another man-up goal for the Bears with 2:54 to go to make it 17-3.

Facing a Bears team that played "keep-away" for the final two minutes of action, the Camels were able to chip away at their deficit as Isabelle Baneux (Fr., Ithaca, N.Y./New Trier) cashed in on a six-on-five chance at 2:19, while Sam Pierce (Fr., Windsor, Conn.) zipped in back-to-back natural tallies at 1:23 and 31 seconds to shrink the final score down to 17-6.

Jasbon and Pierce led the way for Connecticut with pairs of goals, while Amey stopped five shots in the first half in suffering the loss.  Pamela Lovejoy (Sr., Guilford, Conn./Hopkins School) came on to make two saves in the second half.

For Brown, Zak, Booher, Santiago and Klein joined Pepper in recording multi-goal games as the quartet punched in pairs as the Bears overpowered Connecticut College for the second time this year.  Earlier in the season Brown picked up a 19-10 victory against the Camels to continue a trend of never losing to Connecticut College in either men's or women's water polo.

Shin claimed the win for the Bears by stopping four shots in going the distance from opening sprint to closing horn.

Connecticut College (15-7, 13-2 CWPA Division III) will continue the tournament at noon on Saturday, April 27, against the Lakers of Mercyhurst University in the consolation bracket.  A victory by the Camels against Mercyhurst would mark the first in the program's history against the Lakers as Connecticut College has never defeated any of the other 11 competing teams in the 2013 CWPA Eastern Championship field.

Brown Goals: Madison Pepper (4); Rebecca Zak (2); Katharine Booher (2); Olivia Santiago (2); Emily Klein (2); Malaika Drebin; Kayla Stormant; Sarah Presant; Victoria Pierotti; Emma Dodd

Connecticut Goals: Nicky Jasbon (2); Sam Pierce (2); Kate Jacobson; Isabelle Baneux

Saves: Brown - Sarah Shinn (4) ; Connecticut - Ashley Amey (5, 16 minutes), Pamela Lovejoy (2, 16 minutes)

Exclusions: Brown - 6 ; Connecticut - 5

Advantage Opportunities: Brown - 4-for-5 ; Connecticut - 3-for-6

Sprints: Brown - 2-for-4 (1st, 3rd) ; Connecticut - 2-for-4 (2nd, 4th)

Officials: Humberto Navarro, Josh Kratz