The Bermuda men’s hockey team were beaten 3-0 by Venezuela in their latest match at the Central American and Caribbean Games qualifying tournament in Mexico.

Bermuda went into the game after a rest day following a 2-2 draw with the host nation and a 1-0 defeat to Guatemala and started well with the game goalless after the first quarter.

But Venuezuela then scored a girl in each quarter through two strikes from Cristian Vargas and Nelson Alvarez to leave Bermuda with one point from three games and sitting fifth in the six-team group.

The women’s team had a rest day on Tuesday after their heavy defeat by Mexico on Monday, with coach Kovin Moodley urging his players not to dwell on the size of the loss against one of the pre-tournament favourites.

“We expected it to be a tough game and obviously it presented itself that way,” Moodley said.

“It felt like we struggled to adjust to the heat and that led to a couple of players breaking down in the early part of the game, which led to massive adjustments as we were trying to execute our game plan. It felt like we were in a state of survival for a lot of the game, which is not where we want to be, but the girls showed a bit of fight and managed themselves well.

“Our goalkeeper Christina [Stephens-Weser] had an amazing game and she prevented the score being a lot higher. We’re grateful that she stepped up and rose to the occasion.”

The adjustment to playing at altitude has proved difficult for Bermuda in the past few days but Moodley is keen not to blame conditions for performances.

“We always knew altitude would be an issue but now we’ve had a couple of games, I think the girls are starting to adjust,” he said.

“But it’s also about the recovery and once you play a game to try to recover and play again the next day at this level is not always easy. Fatigue and being away from home and being able to settle and make sure you don’t have that stress and anxiety so you can recover adequately is part of our challenge.

“At international tournaments that is tested the most and as a nation we don’t always get the opportunityto play away from home in these environments very often. It’s a learning curve and we have to adapt as quickly as possible.”

There is good news ahead of the women’s next game against Puerto Rico on Wednesday in that the players forced off against Mexico on Tuesday will be available to play.

“Fortunately we have no serious injuries with the women,” Moodley said.

“We’ve played against Puerto Rico a few times and it’s a 50-50 split in wins and losses against them. In the three years I’ve coached the team, we’ve won one, lost one and drawn one so we have a good undersatnding and appreciation of both outfits.

“It’s a matter of us making sure we are not as inefficient as we were against Mexico. We need to establish a bit more control so that we can play to our own plan and if we do that we can expect a solid performance.

“The Puerto Ricans are strong and tenacious so we need to rise to the occasion and present ourselves as a team that can compete at this level, be aggressive and execute our gameplan.”