GUYANA’S national women’s hockey team had to settle for sixth place in this year’s Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Women’s Hockey tournament in Vera Cruz, Mexico, after losing to bronze medallist Barbados by a 0-3 margin on Sunday last.

With both teams failing to make the semi-finals, the victor would have to settle for fifth place in this year’s edition of the games while the loser would be relegated to sixth of the eight-team competition, which saw Jamaica defeating Bermuda 2-0 to secure the 7th position in the competition behind Guyana.

Guyana began the match on shaky ground as they did in the previous clash with Jamaica and gave up several early chances and penalty corners to Barbados, who in the 11th minute, scored their opening goal that deflected off the stick of Guyanese defender Tiffany Solomon, and fell into the path of onrushing striker Keisha Jordan for the finish.

Goalkeeper Alysa Xavier had been pulled left by the original strike but the unfortunate deflection made it an impossible goal to save, while the Guyanese made a few tactical changes and managed to balance the midfield play after the first goal, but their strikers failed to match those of Barbados for converting possessions to shots at goal.

With the match flowing from end to end in the blistering Vera Cruz sun, Barbadian right winger, Venessa Chewitt, would complete a brilliant run by cutting all the way to the left side to receive a pass before driving right with the ball, overcoming the challenges of a few defenders and smashing her shot just inside the left goal post to give her team a 2-0 cushion at half-time.

The second half saw both teams sharing possession of the ball but the opposition defence kept winning the battles to keep the half scoreless and Guyana in their aim to make up for the deficit, piled players forward and made some meaningful drives at the Bajans’ defensive area.

While this tactic seemed to give Guyana the upper hand, they remained vulnerable in the depleted defence and Chewitt would be the hero for Barbados by completing a swift counter-attack off a midfield turnover to put the Bajans up by three.

Although Guyana seemed the more threatening side in the final 10 minutes of play, the Barbadian defence held firm and prevented any attempts from scoring to come away with the victory, even as Mexico defeated Trinidad 2-1 in the Bronze medal match, while Cuba secured the gold over the Dominican Republic on a penalty shootout after the two sides were deadlocked at 3-3 at full time.