Winning start for hockey teams at Pan Am Jr Challenge
Guyana’s national male and female Under-21 teams got off to winning starts when the Pan American Hockey Federation (PAHF) Jr Challenge bullied off on Saturday.
First, Guyana’s girls started the day with a 4-0 victory over Guatemala. Then, their male counterparts enjoyed a 2-0 victory against the same opposition later in the day.
A glimpse of the contest between Guyana (red) and Guatemala
Girls’ Head Coach and Guyana Hockey Board President Philip Fernandes said about Saturday’s win: “Both our girls’ and boys’ teams performed well. Guatemala are not expected to be as strong as the top teams in the tournament, but they play a decent brand of hockey.
“Our ladies took a bit of time to settle into their game. Remember this would be the first time half the team has ever played a match on an artificial grass surface. Both our teams train our trial matches on an unmarked grass field, which is then paced out with plastic cones for the dimensions. A huge difference from our opponents.”
After putting Guatemala under considerable pressure from the start, our girls scored six minutes into the game through Georgiana Fernandes. Fernandes finished off a strong solo move by Makaylah Poole who got around the left side of the Guatemalan defence and slipped a short pass to Fernandes to finish off with a flick.
A look at the action between the Guyana (black and white) and Guatemala Under-21 female teams
Guyana gained 13 penalty corners to Guatemala’s one, and also scored in each quarter to gain a 4-0 victory.
The rebound from a powerful Sarah Klautky strike fell kindly to Kazaquah Uzzi on the right post who finished for the team’s second. Fernandes returned to blast a shot into the roof of the net for the team’s third while Keitana Percival outran the Guatemalan defence to slide the final goal past the advancing goalkeeper.
Also in the women’s competition, Mexico beat Trinidad and Tobago 8-0 and Puerto Rico beat Barbados 6-0.
In the local boys’ game against Guatemala, the competition was equally one-sided and Guyana pulled off a 2-0 victory through two penalty goals from Jabari Lovell. While the Guyanese boys looked the superior side, their lack of game experience led them to squander several chances that could have helped them to an even more favourable scoreline.
Head Coach Robert Fernandes shared this about their performance, “It’s always important to start with a win, so I’m pleased with the three points and the fact that we scored two penalty corners. However, we struggled to match Guatemala’s physical intensity and our efficiency in the scoring area needs to be better. We’ll have to improve on those things in our match against Trinidad and Tobago to achieve a similar result.”
In the other boys’ game, Brazil edged Venezuela 1-nil.
The Guyanese female team were scheduled play Mexico next on Sunday while the boys had a rest day before facing Trinidad & Tobago, today, Monday, March 10.
