Guyana falters on day two, champions continue winning

By Michelangelo Jacobus

Missed chances caused the Guyana women’s national team to go down with out scoring as the Canadian women won 2-0 in the opening game of day two of the Pan American Indoor Hockey tournament while the men suffered their first defeat at the hands of Trinidad and Tobago.
The Guyana team was forced to play without arguably their best offensive payer in Aliyah Gordon due to injury she picked up in their game on Monday against Argentina. Her absence was evident when the locals lacked any real potency in the attacking third.
Consecutive short corners were awarded to the Guyanese none of which were converted; in Gordon’s absence Gabriella Xavier stepped up to the plate and created a few chances but was let down by her teammates. Once again Goalie Alyssa Xavier was outstanding and was the real reason why the score line wasn’t higher.
Canada were made to labour for their goals but unlike the Guyanese they converted as Michelle Weber scored in the sixth minute while Kathleen Leahy added Canada’s second in the 15th minute.
Meanwhile, the Guyanese men looked disjointed and offensively blunt as Trinidad and Tobago punished their tactical errors to win 4-0.
Fresh off of a 5-2 defeat of Argentina on Monday evening, the Trinidadians looked silky in attack and rock solid in defence.

The Guyanese looked full of energy in the opening minutes but slowly waned away as the game progressed; the game remained at a stalemate for the first half with both teams failing to make any sort of offensive impact. Trinidad’s Aidan de Gannes was a real menace going forward and it came as no surprise when he shot from the left to net his team’s first goal in the opening minute of the second half (25th minute). Two minutes later Guyana conceded a penalty which was duly converted by Jordan Reynos to make it 2-0 in favour of the twin island republic.
This seemed to spark the Guyanese into action and they played a high pressing game as the coach even took off the goalkeeper in favour of an extra outfield player to chase the game. The tactic seemed to work as the Trinidadians were pressured into fouls and two of the players received timeouts. Despite having the numerical advantage, Guyana withdrew the extra outfielder player and sent on the goalie which proved to be a fatal error.
The Trinidadians managed to score twice in the final minute of the game with Mickell Pierre and Jordan Veira grabbing a goal each to end the game.
Earlier in the day, Barbados showed a bit of backbone but the defending male champions Canada showed why they are the number one ranked team in the Pan American Federation as they eventually won 6-1.
In the other women’s fixtures, the Trinidadian women could not match their male counterparts as Argentina made light work of them in a 4-0 win.
Carina Guzman was once again among the goals as she opened proceedings for Argentina in the very first minute of the game, the ominous Julianna Rios Ferreyra too was on target netting in the eight minute while Emma Yanzi grabbed a brace in the 21st and 26th minutes respectively.
The USA women’s team needed two second half goals to prevail over Uruguay in a hard fought 3-1 win. Sammy Popper rescued the US as she netted their first goal in the second minute and scoring again in the 29th minute.
Uruguay’s Camila de Maria had equalised for her side in the 22nd minute but Ali Campbell scored for USA to restore their advantage while Popper’s goal sealed the deal.
Up to press time the Mexican males were yet to play the Argentines in the final match of the day, the result of that game will be published in a subsequent article.
Today’s play will begin with Canada vs Trinidad and Tobago (Women) at 14:00hrs; that game will be followed by Barbados vs T&T (Men), Argentina vs USA (Women), Guyana vs Mexico (Men), Guyana vs Barbados (Women) and Argentina vs Canada (Men).