Guyana’s men and women’s teams suffered mixed fortunes on day two of the Junior Pan American Hockey championships yesterday at the National Hockey Centre in St. Michael, Barbados.
The men’s team scored a 1-0 victory over host Barbados while the women side went down to Canada 0-12 in their debut match at the championship.
A field goal from Favorite Shaquon in the 13th minute ensured that Guyana record their first win in the competition after they went down to the United States of America (USA) 0-3 on the opening day of competition in the men’s Pool B encounter.
Guyana had the greater advantage over their Barbadian counterparts for most of the game but failed to capitalize on a few scoring opportunities.
The Guyanese squad have joined Canada and the United States of America on three points but they have played two matches.
In the men’s playoffs, top seed Argentina lead in Pool A with the maximum six points following wins against Brazil 11-0 and Chile 7-0.
In Pool B Canada and the USA share the top of the table with three points each from one game while Guyana also have three points but from two matches for third position in the standing.
Meanwhile, the youthful Guyana Under-21 women’s team suffered a heavy 12-0 defeat against Canada on their debut match.
The Guyanese were down 0-1 as early as the first minute of play but eventually found their composure and fended off the Canadians for the remaining first quarter. Canada’s opening goal was scored from a penalty corner by Allison Kuzyk who eventually scored four goals in the match with other strikes in the 22nd, 32nd and 39th minutes of play.
The second quarter proved the game changer as the Canadian side scored three more goals to lead the first half 4-0.
The second quarter goal scorers were Mallory Mackesy in the 15th, Allison in the 22nd and Nora Struchtrup all from penalty corners. The Canadians continued their goal hunt in the second half and by the third quarter they were leading 7-0 through goals by Girgis Kenzie in the 29th minute from a penalty stroke. Other scorers in the match were Brooke Mc Cusker, Laine Delmonte and Imogen Govan.
Chile crushed Barbados 20-0 in the other encounter and Argentina had a 4-0 win over Uraguay in Pool A.
The Guyanese will be in action again today when they oppose host Barbados at 11:00 hours.
