Five different players were on target as T&T senior women's hockey team got their gold medal defence off to a winning start at the 22nd Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Veracruz, Mexico with a 5-0 bashing of Bermuda on Saturday.
Kristin Thompson got the opener for the "Calypso Stickwomen" in the 30th minute while Kayla Brathwaite scored her first international five minutes later for a 2-0 half-time lead.
Ten minutes into the second-half of the 70-minute contest, Dana-Lee De Gannes extended T&T's lead to 3-0 while Brianna Govia (47th) and veteran Oire Trotman (51st) added their names to the list of scorers as well to give the Anthony Marcano-coached women a positive start.
The reigning gold medal champions will go after a second win today when they meet Guyana followed by Dominican Republic to complete pool play on Wednesday.
Yesterday, the men, silver medal winners four years ago in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, also won their opening contest, but only just, 4-3 over Dominican Republic thanks to a first ever international hat-trick from Fatima College student and Courts Malvern youngster, Tariq Marcano.
Marcano fired the Raphael Govia-coach T&T ahead as early as the third minute but Dominican Republic hit back to lead 2-1 after Jose Lopez netted in the sixth and eighth minutes.
However, Marcano got his second of the match in the 26th and Nicholas Grant, scored in the 28th for T&T to lead 3-2 at the half.
Six minutes into the second-half, Francisco Garcia drew Dominican Republic level, but with the match headed for a draw and four minutes left on the clock, Marcano found a winner for T&T.
Tomorrow, the men will return to action against Cuba ahead of their final match versus Guatemala on Thursday.
Mexico brush asidewomen volleyballers
Host Mexico began with an outclassing victory over T&T women 25-17, 25-16, 25-15 in front of their fans at the Cordoba Arena in Group B pool play.
Despite the fog that suddenly appeared in the last set, Andrea Rangel and Seomara Sainz closed as top scorers for the Mexican team with 12 and 11 points while Channon Thompson tallied 9 for T&T.
Blocking game was tight with three points per team, Mexico surpassed the Caribbean team 6-1 in aces and got 28 points by error.
The locals surrendered 25.
Yesterday, T&T was expected to meet Puerto Rico ahead of their final round-robin match today against Costa Rica.