THE Junior National Men’s hockey team of Guyana qualified for the semifinals of the Players Tournament, in Trinidad & Tobago on Thursday, with a 3-2 penalty shootout win over Queen’s Park, in their final round-robin match.Needing to win outright to qualify as the number one seed in the semifinal, the Guyanese lacked the work rate and intensity in the first half that has been the hallmark of their tour so far.

They found themselves down 2-0 within the first quarter despite having a much more balanced team than Queen’s Park and were lucky not to concede more goals in the second quarter, as they seemed relieved to hear the half-time horn.
An animated pep talk by their coach at halftime, however, jolted them into action and they started the third quarter with a higher level of intensity, majority of the action now taking place in Queen’s Park’s half of the field.
Hilton Chester took a quick free hit and passed the ball out to Kareem McKenzie who sent it into the scoring area where it was skilfully deflected into goal by Ato Greene.
The goal seemed to motivate the Guyanese even more and they piled on the pressure, creating several scoring opportunities which were all repelled by the Queen’s Park defence.
Guyana continued their high pressure in the fourth quarter and were rewarded with a penalty corner which was taken by Guyanese sweeper Andrew Stewart who unleashed a deadly drag flick into the top right of the goal to tie the game.
Guyana pushed hard for the outright win but Queen’s Park held strong until time expired.
In the penalty shootout things looked grim when Guyana’s Keon and Kareem McKenzie had their shots saved, but some aggressive goalkeeping by Medroy Scotland kept them in it before the captain, Mark Sargeant, Leon Bacchus and Andrew Stewart all scored to secure the 3-2 penalty win.
The result meant that Guyana and Malvern are now tied on points although Malvern have secured the number one seed due to their superior goal difference.
Guyana will have a second crack at Queen’s Park in the semifinal, while Malvern take on the U-21 Training Squad Selection.