PAN AM HOCKEY: Guyana’s Women fall twice, but Men prevail

By Treiston Joseph  

After their tough 4-3 loss to Uruguay on Monday morning, the Guyanese ladies had a second crack at winning, but could not overcome the strength of Argentina on Monday afternoon when the Indoor Hockey Pan American Cup continued at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

While Guyana played well, they simply could not get off shots at the defence of the Argentine Women, who went to 2-0 with their win over Guyana after defeating Barbados 14-1 in the morning session.

Julieta Luna opened with a brilliant goal in the 12^th minute for the ladies clad in all over blue, while Maria Narvaez rubbed some salt in the wounds of the Guyanese ladies with an immediate strike in the 13^th minute to make the score 2-0.

The second half showed the grit of the Guyanese Women when top player Aliyah Gordon went down after a ball crashed into her knee.

After some time off the court, not even the inspirational return by Gordon helped the chances of the Guyanese Women as they suffered another blow in the 34^th minute from Josefina Castaneda. Meanwhile, the Guyanese men got a close 5-4 win over Barbados in what ended up being a very competitive match.

The Guyanese men started hot, scoring three goals in a row with Robert France doubling up in the sixth and 14^th minutes to end the first half with the Guyanese firmly in control.

Hilton Chester immediately added to Guyana’s lead in the 24^th minute of the match as the game seemed like a route at that point. However, Barbados tapped into their reserve and scored three on the trot with Che Warner scoring in the 25^th and 28^th minutes, while Akeem Rudder equalised in the 32^nd minute.

Guyana, however, wasted little time in responding and notched two straight goals from Jamarj Assanah in the 33^rd and France, who got his hat-trick in the 36^th minute.

Neil Franklin of Barbados would go onto score in the 38^th minute but the effort was a little too late to overcome the Guyanese. The Guyanese Women will be in action on Tuesday from 11:00h against Canada, while the Men will play Trinidad and Tobago from 16:45h.