GUYANA got off to a rocky start at their 2021 Indoor Pan Am Women’s Hockey Championship yesterday, going down 20-2 to the tournament hosts and defending champions USA, and 14-0 to Argentina in Spring City, Pennsylvania.
It was certainly not the type of start head coach Philip Fernandes had hoped for, despite the team losing their captain Gabriella Xavier to COVID-19 and striker Sonia Jardine to an ankle injury.
The relatively young team, who Fernandes said, are being groomed for the future, had their toughest opposition to face in their very first match of the tournament.

The Americans, the tournament’s highest-ranked team, did not hold back on their relentless attack on the Guyanese women and had a lead of 11-0 at half-time of their encounter.
In the second half, Guyana showed more fight which saw Abosaide Cadogan find the back of the net in the 28th and 31st minutes.

Hope Rose scored seven goals and Ashley Sessa had five for the U.S. women.
Meanwhile, Guyana showed more fight against Argentina where they held their own in the second stanza, after falling behind 8-0 at the halfway mark.
The USA also defeated Canada 5-4, to finish day one with two impressive wins and to leave the floor undefeated.
Argentina, after playing to an entertaining 2-2 stalemate with Uruguay, departed the playing facility with one win and a draw.
Canada, prior to narrowly losing to rivals USA, got their campaign going with a 1-1 draw against Uruguay.
Looking ahead to today, Guyana will face Canada from 11:30hrs and play their final round-robin match against Uruguay at 16:30hrs. (Rawle Toney)