Wins for USA, Canada and Argentina

WHILE Guyana’s male team got off to the start they wanted, the women were not so fortunate, as the Pan American Indoor Hockey Championships got underway at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall last evening.
A hat-trick of goals from Robert France propelled the male team to a 5-4 win over Barbados in their first taste of the competition, while the women stumbled 3-4 and 0-3 against Uruguay and Argentina respectively.

Cheered on by a vociferous home crowd, the Guyanese women entered the tournament with an ‘underdog’ status quo but against Uruguay, they produced an exceptional showing, despite being overwhelmed by the visitors in the final stages of the game.
Agustina Nieto, four minutes into the contest, put Uruguay ahead but almost ten minutes later Trisha Woodroffe pulled one back for Guyana. However, Guyana’s celebration was short-lived, since Maria Teresa Viana Ache put the Uruguayans in the lead (2-1).
Guyana, down a goal going into the second half, were forced to defend against the visiting team’s powerful Milagros Algorta.
But, being urged on by coach Dwayne Scott on the sidelines, Aliyah Gordon immediately pulled one back for the home side, and it was Nicole Eastman who found the equaliser 38th minute.

With time ticking away and both teams hunting for the final goal to give them a good start in the championships, Constanza Arrandeguy scored what turned out to be the winning goal in the 39th minute for Uruguay.
In their second match of the evening, the Guyanese women were ‘overawed’ by Argentina (3-0) who saw Julieta Luna (12th minute), Maria Narvaez (13th) and Josefina Castaneda (34th) register goals.

Argentina, winners of the 2008 and 2010 championships, and runners-up to Canada in 2014, prior to their victory over Guyana, defeated Barbados 14-1 to cement themselves as ‘the team to beat’ in the women’s championship.
The USA, who have never won the championship and finished only third in 2014, won 7-2 in a come-from-behind result over Trinidad and Tobago.

Meanwhile, Guyana’s male team, having their eyes fixed on being one the teams from the Pan American region in Berlin next year, displayed the type of hockey that placed them as favourites to win the tournament.
Robert France scored back-to-back goals (6th and 13th minutes) to give Guyana a 2-0 advantage; a lead they carried into the second half.

Hilton Chester extended Guyana’s lead (3-0) with his goal in the 24th minute but Barbados scored three goals in seven minutes through Che Warner (25th and 28th) and Akeem Rudder (32nd) to bring the men from the ‘Land of the Flying Fish’ even with the Guyanese.
However, Jamarj Assanah scored in the 33rd minute and France wrapped up his hat-trick three minutes later, to put Guyana up 5-3. Neil Franklin scored in the 38th minute for Barbados, but time, coupled with Guyana’s stubborn defence, ensured that his play was the ‘last straw’.

In other results, defending men’s champions Canada signalled their intention to repeat their 2014 title win, when they thrashed Mexico 10-0.
Johnathan Roberts led the Canadian onslaught with a hat-trick (3rd, 5th, 37th), while Tyler Branco (6th), Joshua Kuempel (12th), Devohn Teixeira (13th), Ken Pereira (27th), Adrien D’Andrade (32nd), Gurtej Dhaliwal (33rd) and Micah Teixeira (38th) scored a goal each for the team from further up North.
Today, Guyana’s female side will open day two of the tournament against Canada at 13:00hrs, while the men’s team will play their counterparts from the Twin Island Republic at 16:45hrs.