Argentina have won the Pan American Cup yet again thanks to victory over USA, but they were made to fight every step of the way in order to claim their prize in a tense final on Saturday.
The North Americans put up a sensational fight against the host nation and world number 2, but eventually fell to a 1-0 defeat courtesy of a 55th minute field goal from Delfina Merino.
For Argentina, the narrow triumph gave them their fourth successive Pan American Cup, adding to the titles that they won in 2001, 2004 and 2009. USA were the opponents on all three previous occasions.
Despite the defeat, USA had plenty to celebrate this weekend thanks to the confirmation of a place at the Rabobank Hockey World Cup 2014, which takes place in The Hague, Netherlands.
With Argentina having already secured World Cup qualification thanks to a 3rd place finish at the recent Investec Hockey World League Semi Final in London (ENG), the door was opened to the teams that finished outside the top three at the HWL Semi-Finals that had not yet achieved world cup qualification.
With first reserves China and second reserves Japan having already sealed their places – Japan doing so on Friday by winning the Asian continental championship – the place was immediately handed to third reserves USA. The FIH offers sincere congratulations to USA, and looks forward to seeing them in action at the Kyocera Stadium next summer.
Earlier in the day, Canada claimed 2-1 win against Chile to grab the bronze medal, with Thea Culley scoring both of the goals for the North Americans.
More information about the women’s Pan American Cup can be found at the following locations:
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Pan American Cup
Results - Day 5
7-8 place: Guyana 2-3 Trinidad & Tobago
5-6 place: Uruguay 1-1 Mexico (Mexico win 3-4 after shoot-out)
Bronze: Canada 2-1 Chile
Gold: USA 0-1 Argentina
Standings
1: Argentina
2: USA
3: Canada
4: Chile
5: Mexico
6: Uruguay
7: Trinidad & Tobago
8: Guyana
