Canada was eliminated Sunday from the women’s water polo tourney at the world aquatics championships by the Netherlands, a third-period collapse its undoing for a second consecutive game in Budapest, Hungary.
The Dutch snapped a 3-3 tie in the Round of 16 match with six goals in the third on the way to an 10-7 win and quarter-final berth.
On Thursday, the top-ranked Hungarians held a 5-4 lead over Canada after two periods before blanking their opponent 4-0 in the third of an 11-7 victory in the final group match for both squads.
The No. 6 Canadians, who haven’t medalled at worlds since capturing silver in 2009, were attempting to build off their seventh-place performance in Tokyo last summer, the team’s first Olympic appearance in 16 years.
“We’re at the world stage, we want to win every single game and go one game at a time,” head coach David Paradelo told CBC Sports recently. “We’ve been building the program for two and a half years now. We have a good returning squad from the last [Olympic] quad.”
Dealing with adversity, Paradelo said, was the biggest lesson learned by his team at the Olympic tournament.
Balanced attack
In Budapest, each time Canada sagged in the third period it fought back to outscore the opposition in the fourth: 3-2 against Hungary and 2-1 versus the Dutch.
The Canadians displayed a balanced attack on Sunday with seven players scoring goal — Axelle Crevier, Verica Bakoc, Shae La Roche, Gurpreet Sohi, Kindred Paul, Kyra Christmas and Emma Wright.
Bakoc is a 22-year-old driver who showed promise in exhibition matches against the Netherlands while Paradelo leaned on Christmas and Wright, both left-handers and teammates on the 2020 Olympic club, for leadership.
Christmas of High River, Alta., is fresh off winning the Euro League title with Olympiacos in Greece while Wright, a centre from Lindsay, Ont., recently completed her American collegiate career in the NCAA with University of California, Berkeley.
Canada entered the world tourney minus some key veterans as driver Joelle Bekhazi and goaltender Claire Wright have retired and captain Monika Eggens is taking the summer off.
However, the Canadians impressed in Budapest and took charge in their opener with a 22-2 drubbing of Colombia, which allowed a combined 88 goals over three contests in group play.
The Canadians then tied No. 10 Italy, rebounding from a 4-2 deficit after the first period.
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