Water polo women whipped in Colombia

Leah Dos Santos scored five goals for the T&T women’s water polo team in a 24-7 loss to Guatemala on the opening day of the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Cali, Colombia, Monday (April 13).

Fresh from an Easter Invitational tournament, designed to provide the team with much-needed match practice, Dos Santos and company did not have the fortunes they were hoping for against a powerful Guatemalan team.

The local women claimed the victory in the open division of the tournament but struggled against a higher-quality Central American team, surrendering every quarter of Monday’s early-morning affair. Despite Dos Santos’ gritty display, the T&T women trailed in the first quarter 8-3 and 5-1 at the halfway stage.

There was no change in the latter part of the game, as the Calypso water polo women continued their struggle in the third quarter, 7-3, and were outscored in the final session of the match, 4-2. Assistant coach Runson Hackshaw said the girls failed to execute consistently on the game plan.

“We have a very inexperienced team. This is the first time that most of the players are very young. In this type of tournament, we’re a senior team, and a lot of the ladies on this team just came out of the Age Group competition. This is the first tournament for most of them at a senior-level tournament,” Hackshaw explained.

“The expectations in terms of going out there were high for them to perform well, but as an inexperienced player, they made a lot of mistakes. That’s something we have to improve on in our other games coming up today against Venezuela. We’re trying to work on it, working on improving as the days go along. Reinforcing the discipline within the water and trying to maintain that high intensity. And also doing exactly what is coached to them off the bench.”

According to Hackshaw, “Maintaining the offensive plays on the attack was the major letdown for us today against Guatemala.”

As the team faces another tough contest against the Venezuelans, Hackshaw assured that there is a game plan for both matches; however, it comes down to the consistency in the execution. “That’s one of the challenges we’ve been having with the team. It’s executing what is instructed to them to do, both offensively and defensively. Once we’re able to execute offensively exactly what the game plan is and set aside the nerves in the tournament, we’ll be able to get a better result against Venezuela.”

Despite the losing result, Hackshaw still believes his charges can qualify for the CAC Games.

“I believe the team has a chance to get into the top six. It’s not the end of the world. It’s the first game. And yes, we have some hard opposition against us going forward, but once we get there in terms of the top six, it may come down to the last playing for the fifth to eighth places. It may come down to that, if we’re being realistic about it.”

“So, in terms of that fifth to sixth place, we have to make sure and get into that fifth to sixth place to be able to qualify for the CSE Games in July. But that is the situation right now,” Hackshaw said.

Meanwhile, the country’s water polo men were expected to face Cuba Monday night.