Day 4 of the XIX Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile opened with Pool A play and Uruguay settling on a comfortable 11-0 score line over Trinidad and Tobago, while Argentina scored five unanswered goals to win 5-1 over the USA. Pool A is shaping up with the Leonas on top with six points, while Uruguay and Argentina will do battle to make the cross-over matches.
WOMEN Pool A: Uruguay (11) – Trinidad and Tobago (0)
The return of Teresa Viana Ache proved valuable as the Uruguay forward notched four goals in a dominating 11-0 victory for the Cimarronas over Trinidad and Tobago. Sol Amadeo and Manuela Vilar each got a hat trick in the game.
Uruguay held Trinidad and Tobago in their end for nearly the entire game. The Cimarronas’ first goal came on a long ball from Augstina Taborda through the circle and Sol Amadeo was there to touch in for a 1-0 lead. That would be the start of the goal suite despite some brave defensive corner stops from Amanda George and Naomi Sampson.
Uruugay’s Manuela Vilar smashed a ball of the post in the opening quarter just before Viana Ache went on a firing spree pocketing two goals in the span of a minute. Milagros Algorta buried a penalty corner, to make it 4-0.
Amadeo touched two penalty corner flicks from Vilar to extend the lead to six. Vilar then slotted two low penalty corner finishes to make it 8-0, and then Viana Ache extended the lead with two goals before Vilar’s final flick in the 58th minute brought the total to 11-0.
"We came to play and achieve an important goal difference, because in our first match we conceded a lot of goals," said Uruguay's Sol Amadeo." We wanted more without a doubt, but it cost us a little at the beginning, anyway we are happy with the result. We kept running and looking for the game until the last minute, and I think that was a good thing, the collective play and not one-on-one."
WOMEN Pool A: United States (1) – Argentina (5)
The USA came out of the gate too fast, too early scoring first but eventually falling to the mighty Leonas 5-1. Two penalty corner finishes from Agustina Gorzelany and the effortless touches from Majo Granatto made up the bulk of the work for Argentina.
The Leonas had the opening penalty corner chance of the game but USA defender Alexandra Hammel denied Gorzelany’s flick. Against the flow a long run from Madeleine Zimmer down the right side fed the speedy Danielle Grega. Grega’s shot toward the near post looked destined for Cristina Cosentino’s pads but Danielle Grega’s quick hands guided the ball between the pads for a 1-0 USA lead.
Argentina did not let up as Valentina Raposa’s blast from a penalty corner was denied by USA keeper Kelsey Bing and Julieta Jankunas’ shot hit an American defender on the line. A video referral reversed the play and the USA hung on to their lead.
The tying goal came before the end of the first quarter on a textbook deflection from Granatto, sliding in for the reverse stick touch on a Gorzelany delivery. Her fist-pumping celebration was met with a crowd roar as Argentina tied the game 1-1.
The Leonas found their second goal off a long video referral after a free hit was set into the USA circle and took a touch off Delfina Tome to skip past Bing and give Argentina the 2-1 lead.
From there the USA looked to run out of gas but kept working with Ashley Sessa generating a first-half chance but the shot is squandered wide. USA had one other chance to get back in the game but Ashley Hoffman’s penalty corner flick rang the post.
Argentina then found their scoring strides as Granatto touched a skipping ball from Gorzelany into the circle to make it 3-1, while a streaking Julieta Jankunas generated the penalty corner for Gorzelany to fire home her first of two. Gorzelany added another in the final minute of play to make it 5-1.
"(The game was) very intense but very good and fun to play," said Argentina's Granatto after the match. "We did things very well and are happy with today’s result, even though we started 1-0 down at the beginning, we were able to reverse the result. All the opponents are tough in this tournament and we have to know how to prepare ourselves to face each one of them."
"We knew Argentina is a good side and very, very skilled especially in the ciricle," said USA captain Amanda Golini. "We really wanted to focus on our one-versus-one defence and capitalize on our opportunities and we just came up short on that."
