Bermuda women’s hockey team coach Kovin Moodley feels his team has learnt some valuable lessons after playing a touring team from University of California Berkeley.

Bermuda has lost the first two matches of the four-game series 9-2 and 7-0 as they attempt to gain valuable experience ahead of the Central American and Caribbean Games in June.

On Sunday, Moodley’s squad made a bright start to lead 2-1 at the end of the first quarter but the tourists were far too strong late on, running in eight goals with no response.

Moodley feels that scoreline was not a true reflection of how his team played, with fitness playing a huge factor in the outcome.

“In the first game they [University of California Berkeley] were extremely strong,” he said.

“After the third quarter I think we were quite close and in the final quarter we conceded five goals, so it just proves that we were maybe lacking a bit of fitness to finish the game off and that might have been the difference. It looked like a massive score but for three quarters of the game we were quite competitive.”

In the second game, three Bermuda players were missing, which reduced the number of substitutes the team could field from five to two. Berkeley were a lot stronger and raced to a 3-0 lead in the first five minutes of the match but young Bermuda goalkeeper Christina Stephens made a tremendous amount of saves to keep Bermuda in the game.

The match was played in tribute to late footballer Marco Warren who died on May 14 after a suspected hit-and-run incident. The celebration of Warren’s life was led by Bermudian Ty Douglas, the University of California Associate Athletic Director for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging. A moment of silence was observed at the start and at half-time there was an acknowledgement of the family with a special moment at the end for every player to connect with the family.

Moodley is excited to be facing such high-calibre opponents as the team prepares to depart for Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where the CAC hockey tournament starts on June 23.

“Having this California college team here is fantastic for US because it just shows us strong competition, a good hockey programme and fantastic coaches,” Moodley said.

“It gives US the opportunity to actually integrate with them, learn from them, and also just inspire our players leading into the final couple of weeks of preparation for the CAC Games. It’s so valuable for US to have quality opposition to play against.”

“It's a bit of a challenge at the moment having a couple of players that are selected in the 16 that are not on island, so we do have a small group that we are working with and not the full complement of the team.

“If we had the full team, it might have evened things up a little bit and possibly given us a bit more of a competitive edge.

Moodley is looking forward to the final game of the tour tonight with some of his missing players likely to make a return, allowing him to play the system that he has been working on with the team in the build-up to the CAC Games.

The University of California Berkeley team arrived in Bermuda last weekend spent time immersing themselves in the local culture before getting ready for the three matches against the national team.

A day after arrival, the tourists took part in the relay portion of the Bermuda Half-Marathon Derby. They also braved the unfriendly weather when they took part in the Bermuda Day Parade.

"It was a special experience to participate in the half-marathon relay run, followed by the Bermuda Day Parade. I think we generated some interest for our youth clinic on Tuesday. We are off to a great start," said Shellie Onstead, an athletic staff at University of California Berkeley.