Water Polo Canada – Montreal, April 10, 2016 (Sportcom) – The Canadian senior men’s water polo team has concluded the Olympic Qualification Tournament in sixth place overall. At their last game presented Sunday in Trieste, Italy, Canada’s men fought hard against the players of the Dutch national team who eventually won 9-8.

“If we exclude this game, I can say that I am overall pleased with our performance during the tournament. We have done well,” said coach Pino Porzio.

Nicolas Constantin-Bicari was the first one of the Canadians to find the back of the net with just over two minutes elapsed on the clock. Teammate Justin Boyd, of Beaconsfield, registered on the scoreboard at midpoint in the period. The Netherlanders answered with a goal of their own to end this quarter 2-1 in favor of Canada.

In the second half, the Dutch took the lead by notching two goals. The Canadians had obviously not said their last word and sneaked past the opposing goalie twice, on throws from Constantin-Bicari and John Conway to make the score 4-3.

Back in the pool after the halfway pause, the two countries exchanged possession constantly and kept up with one another’s goal scoring. By the end of the period, the Europeans had added four goals while the Canadian added three points to the scorecard. The game was a close one and teams finished the quarter tied at 7-7.

In the last eight minutes, Conway was the only scorer for his team while opponents cashed in twice. Things got heated and red cards where distributed to players on each side while some players were excluded for the remainder of the game.

“It was probably our worst game. The small mistakes we had successful avoided this week occurred again on Sunday. There was some mental fatigue after eight tough days but we must learn to always play in the best way possible. We can still improve on the physical, technical and mental levels. We have a way to go before reaching the top, but we definitely have a strong foundation here,” concluded Pino Porzio.

 

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Medias relations : Pascale Beaudoin

Water Polo Canada Communications

pbeaudoin@waterpolo.ca or 514-758-7472