Guyana’s hockey team to the Central American and Caribbean Games in Vera Cruz, Mexico has registered its first win.

In the cool afternoon wind at the Vera Cruz hockey centre, the Guyanese women went into their second match of the Central American and Caribbean Games against Bermuda. The Guyanese won by a comfortable 6-0 margin on the last occasion that the two teams met, which was the 2010 PAHF Challenge.

On this occasion however, only one goal was scored.

From the opening whistle Guyana seemed the aggressor as they weaved the ball through the Bermuda defence with relative ease, creating several chances in the early minutes. This set the tone for the duration of the match as Bermuda opted to fall back into their own defensive area to quell the green and black Guyanese attack.

While Guyana piled the pressure on, however, several shot attempts went wide and two near goalmouth scrambles in the opening 20 minutes failed to produce a score. The half time clock would meet the scores still at 0-0 despite the overwhelming ball possession by the Guyanese including seven penalty corners to Bermuda’s one.

Guyana adjusted their strategy for the second half pushing forward midfielder Leigh Sandison to the strike line. With the additional player forward Bermuda struggled to get their offense going but continued to defend relentlessly.

It was not until the 20th minute of the second half that Guyana finally made their breakthrough. Sandison intercepted a poor pass forward and attacked the Bermuda scoring circle with speed. Her quick shot as she entered the scoring circle seemed to catch goalkeeper Antoinette Rabain by surprise as the ball threw the goal net into a Mexican wave and the Guyanese celebrated their first lead of the match.

The one-nil victory for Guyana sees them needing a win and full three points from their tie with defending champions Trinidad today if they are to secure a place in the semi-finals.

Guyana has not beaten Trinidad in recent years but the team has shown marked improvement as they adjust to the playing conditions and remain optimistic. Trinidad drew 2-2 with surprise of the tournament, the Dominican Republic, in the other Pool B encounter of the day.

In pool A action, Cuba remained unbeaten by defeating Barbados by 3-1 while hosts Mexico, the other unbeaten team in the pool, earned an easy 4-0 victory over Jamaica. Cuba faces Mexico immediately following the Guyana versus Trinidad clash to determine the top of pool A.

Meanwhile, word out of Mexico from Guyana’s Chef-d-Mission Deion Nurse is that Delroy Murphy lost his first Judo match and will be trying to make amends today in his second.

In Table Tennis, the quartet of overseas-based Trenace Lowe, Chelsea Edghill, Akecia Nedd and Nathalie Cummings failed to get past the round of 16.
At Swimming, Brittney Van Lange and Hannibal Gaskin did not make podium finishes.
Van Lange in the Women’s 100m free style finished 12th overall. She also did not touch the wall in the top bracket in the 50m free.

Gaskin in the Men’s 50m butterfly finished 14th overall and 11th in the 100m butterfly.

Athletes in Table Tennis and Swimming departed Mexico last night and are expected to arrive home today, while those in Badminton and Squash arrived in Mexico yesterday.