Day 2 of the XIX Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile started off with big wins for Argentina and the USA in women’s Pool A play. The No. 3-ranked Leonas defeated Uruguay 8-0, while two hat tricks lifted the Americans past Trinidad and Tobago by a big 15-0 score margin.
WOMEN Pool A: Argentina (8) – Uruguay (0)
The world-ranked No. 3 Leonas wasted little time to put away the Uruguay Cimarronas 8-0 to open the women’s competition. It was a masterclass of set pieces and expert deflections from the seven-time Pan American champions as keeper Clara Barberi was called to make just one save.
In the opening quarter Agustina Gorzelany finished on a penalty stroke, then a penalty corner to open Argentina’s lead. Uruguay generated little attack with only Elisa Civetta trying to find her way through waves of Argentina defence but a solo effort would prove a difficult feat.
From there, the Leonas showcase continued as Julieta Jankunas and Maria Granatto worked their magic for a goal each in the second quarter, and then opened the second half with even more. Jankunas crossed the ball from the left baseline and out of the air Granatto was there to redirect the ball past keeper Maria Bate. That made it 5-0.
The second half was much of the same as Delfina Thome finished a Valentina Raposo penalty corner strike for Argentina’s sixth, while Jankunas deflected a Granatto pass for number seven, as Maria Barreiro was forced to sit with a yellow card suspension.
The Uruguay defence never stopped working as Bate denied a flick from Gorzelany in the opening of the final quarter, while Barberi was forced to challenge Uruguay’s Sol Amadeo in her circle but the ball bounced wide of the Argentine goal.
A pair of goals each for Gorzelany, Granatto and Jankunas gave the Leonas the 8-0 win over Uruguay.
WOMEN Pool A: USA (15) – Trinidad & Tobago (0)
The United States had a strong start to their Pan American Games opener blasting 15 past Trinidad and Tobago for the second game of Pool A on Day 2. Six goals in the second quarter and a hat trick each for Abby Tamer and Sanne Caarls provided the fire power in today’s match up.
“It always feels good to score but it feels better to have a good team win like that, especially at the start of a tournament,” said the 20-year-old Tamer. “It’s good for us to start working together as a team and build the connections now so we have for the other games later.”
Linnea Gonzalez was quick to get the Americans on the board, netting her first of two in the game in just the second minute of play. From there, the USA penalty corner unit was putting keeper Petal Derry to work. Derry steered an Elizabeth Yeager flick wide of the Trinidad and Tobago net in the eighth minute but a give-and-go from Gonzalez allowed Grega to expertly finish while full sprawled on the ground for USA to double their lead.
It was a scoring frenzy in the second quarter as penalty corner finishes from Ashley Hoffman and Madeleine Zimmer kept the USA on pace. Gonzalez notched her second and Sanne Caarls buried two more to make it 8-0 heading into half time.
It was much of the same in the second half with highlights coming from youngster Tamer, playing in just her 11th international, notching a hat trick, while Hoffman continued to find the back of the net from the top of the penalty corner battery. Sessa was all over the circle, blasting one off the cross bar at one point and finishing a pass from Gonazalez late in the fourth for USA’s 13th goal. Leah Crouse added her name to the scoresheet, while Caarls completed the hat trick with a minute to go to bring the final tally to 15-0.
“The rankings between us and USA is a big margin so we were not expecting to lose that much but we are really focused on working on our structure and coming out strong,” said Akim Toussaint, head coach of Trinidad and Tobago and a four-time Pan Am Games participant with the men’s side. “This is a tournament more for development for us. We aren’t looking at victories so much but more development and how we can hold structure well and go from there.”
