It was big wins for the Argentina women and men who both blanked Mexico by big score lines. USA and Chile women nabbed victories in closer games over Uruguay and Canada, respectively. The Chilean and American men battled in a tight affair that saw three goals come in the final quarter and Chile snuck away with the 2-1 victory. The final game saw home team Canada best a hard working but young Brazilian side 6-0.
WOMEN: Argentina (12) – Mexico (0)
Argentina made a quick start to their Junior Pan American tournament with a convincing 12-0 win over Mexico. Sol Guignet opened the scoring with Argentina’s lone goal in the first quarter before securing the hat trick at the end of 60 minutes. Valentina Ferola and Pilar Pisthon each scored a pair of goals, while Sol Olalla, Lourdes Pisthon, Catalina Stamati, Agustina Miranda and Emma Knobl all got on the board. It was a convincing victory to open the 2024 tournament for the Pan American giants, who last matched up with Mexico in 2016, when that score was 18-0 in favour of Argentina.
WOMEN: USA (2) – Uruguay (1)
In a very heated match up on Day 1, Daniela Mendez-Trendler provided the game-winner for the USA to drop Uruguay 2-1 despite both teams playing the majority of the game level in score. Speedster Olivia Bent-Cole broke the scoreless deadlock in the third quarter but Pilar Lemoine responded for Uruguay just five minutes later. It came down to a penalty corner, finished by Mendez-Trendler in the 51st minute to give the Americans the important three points in pool play.
WOMEN: Canada (1) – Chile (4)
The Canadian women debuted at home but dropped a 4-1 decision to a talented Chilean side. Both teams had a slow start as they looked to find some rhythm and get touches in on the turf. A scoreless opening two quarters was finally disrupted after a series of Canadian outletting errors. Chile capitalized on a penalty corner blast from Monserrat Obon. The goal stunned any home field momentum Canada hoped to gain and the unravelling happened in the fourth quarter. Chile controlled the ball in their back field and a brilliant right-side attack led to some space for Josefina Gutierrez to blast a back-hand shot past Canadian keeper Kailey Workman, playing her first international match. Two goals quickly became four as Francisca Irazoqui’s touch on a penalty corner and Isabel Oyaban’s rebound finish put Chile up 4-0. Canada broke the shutout late in the game on a touch in by Kenzie Girgis on a pass from Elise Piper.
MEN: Argentina (9) – Mexico (0)
The Argentine men had an impressive start to their 2024 campaign with a 9-0 win over Mexico. Lorenzo Somaini, Marco Aguirregomezcorta and Mateo Serrano each scored two, while singles were added from Lautaro Martinez, Santiago Fernandez and Ignacio Nardolillo. Mexican keeper Edgar Espinoza was kept busy as a shortened Mexican bench looked for composure and experience from their captain Rodrigo Silva and veterans Oscar Ramirez, Gael Lopez and Luis Sanchez.
MEN: Chile (2) – USA (1)
The Americans edged Chile 2-1 with all three of the game’s goals coming in the final minutes of the game. The gamer winner came off a broken-down penalty corner. Mateo Perret chased it out wide and blasted it across the circle where the ball fell nicely for Felipe Duisberg. Duisberg blasted a shot on his back hand and the ball rifled under the cross part and rippled the net. Fernando Aguirre notched the game opener in the 47th minute for Chile, while Mehtab Grewal impressed for an equalizer less than a minute later. Chile’s win secures them the all-important opening three points of pool play.
MEN: Canada (6) – Brazil (0)
The Canadian men got out to a riotous start for their home opener taking down Brazil 6-0. Canada did well to create space in their backfield with confident ball movement and patient distribution. Canada’s opener came in the second quarter as defender Grant Simpson moved the ball up the left side and found Robin Thind in the circle. A clever turn saw Thind bury a shot on the back hand for his first of three goals on the night. Brazil packed their circle with all 11 players working hard to limit shots on their netminder Leonardo Santos. A long ball up the middle of the pitch was well managed by Canadian striker Nicolas Syrros and the ball came back to Thind for a blast in the unguarded net and a 2-0 Canada lead. Goals kept coming as Jude Nicholson put away two and Kirin Robinson tapped in after several brilliant individual plays from Ravpreet Gill.
