Defending champs too much for Canada in opener

Taipei City, Chinese Taipei – The Canadian men’s water polo team opened their 2017 Summer Universiade tournament with a tough game against the defending FISU champions from Hungary, falling 17-3.

Taipei 2017 website: www.2017.taipei
Team Canada website: http://en.usports.ca/universiade/summer/2017/index
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The Hungarians opened the scoring three minutes into the match but the Canadians rallied soon after with a goal from Reuel D’Souza. That was all the scoring Canada could generate in the first half, however, as Hungary asserted their physicality and owned a 9-1 advantage at halftime.

Canada was held scoreless in the third period before adding two goals from Sean Spooner and Devon Thumwood late in the fourth. Hungary outshot Canada 33-13 overall.

“There are still pieces of the game that we liked about what we saw,” said head coach Brian Parillo following the match. “We’re going to take what we learned here and use it later on in the tournament. For us it’s always a privilege when we play Hungary.”

The match marked the first international competition for goalkeeper Andrei Velasevic who made five saves in his debut.

“It was a good experience, for me especially, considering (Hungary) is one of the strongest nations in water polo. I feel like I really gained a lot from this,” said Velasevic.

Up next for the Canadians will be the Opening Ceremonies which will welcome over 11,000 student-athletes and staff from more than 140 countries on August 19 at 7 p.m. local time (7 a.m. ET), at Taipei Stadium. The ceremony will be webcasted live on http://www.livestream.com/fisu and at 7 p.m. ET on the CBC website.

The men’s water polo team returns to the pool on August 20 when they take on South Africa at 2:20 a.m. ET.

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