Echeyde Eliminated from Copa del Rey After Narrow Loss to Barceloneta
Santa Cruz Tenerife Echeyde's men's water polo team lost 10-12 to dominant Barceloneta in a closely contested División de Honor match, a result that eliminates them from the Copa del Rey.
The Santa Cruz Tenerife Echeyde men's water polo team lost 10-12 to Barceloneta yesterday in their tenth league match of the División de Honor. This result reportedly means they are now out of the Copa del Rey. The game, played at Acidalio, saw the Tenerife team – who are tenth in the league with ten points and had lost their last three games – face the Catalan club, a dominant force in the competition with twenty consecutive league titles.
Despite the big difference in league position and recent performance, the team coached by Albert Español put up a strong fight. Barceloneta had even chosen to rest five of their regular players. The score remained very close for most of the game. The first quarter ended 2-2, with Luis Araya and Alejandro Bustos scoring for the home side. Barceloneta then took a narrow 4-5 lead by the end of the second quarter, with Araya and Samu García adding to Echeyde's tally.
The teams were still level at 7-7 after the third quarter, thanks to goals from Iker González and Luis Araya. Araya went on to be the game's top scorer with six goals. Echeyde even went ahead 8-7 at the start of the final quarter when Araya scored a penalty, raising hopes of a surprise win. However, Barceloneta quickly scored two goals to go back in front at 8-9. Echeyde managed to draw level once more at 9-9, but the Catalan team then scored three unanswered goals to secure the win. Despite a late goal from Samu García, the final score was 10-12.