T&T senior women’s hockey team dubbed the Calypso Stickwomen have been drawn against three South American teams in powerhouse Argentina, Chile and Uruguay in Group A of the eight-team Pan American Cup slated for Santiago, Chile from January 12-23.
The quartet of Canada, Mexico and the USA while Peru will face off in Pool B of the tournament which serves as the FIH World Cup qualifiers for the region.
The Calypso Stickwomen open their tournament versus Chile on January 12 from 7.30 pm followed by matches against Uruguay on January 14 versus Mexico from 5.15 pm, and Argentina, two days later also from 5.15 pm to close out round-robin play.
The top two teams from each pool at the end of round-robin play will advance to the main draw semifinals on January 20, with the finals and third-place matches scheduled for two days later.
Both finalists and the third-place finishers in the Pan American region will earn places at the 16-team FIH World Cup which will be hosted jointly by Spain and Netherlands in 2022.
The national women’s team only booked their place in Chile with a second-place finish at the just concluded Pan American Challenge behind host Chile, led by head coach Anthony “Bumper” Marcano.
During the one-week tournament, T&T defeated Peru 1-0 in their opening round-robin encounter on September 26, followed by a 2-2 draw with Paraguay on (September 28) and 1-1 with Brazil a day later to end in the second spot at the end of group play with five points, one behind the Peruvians.
In the semifinal, T&T battled past Paraguay 4-3 on sudden-death penalty shoot-out after a 1-1 draw in regulation time while Peru blanked Brazil 2-0, before avenging their round-robin loss to the Calypso Stickwomen for the gold medal.
The eight-team Pan American Cup will feature the six highest-ranked teams from the previous Pan Am Cup (2017) and as the host country (Chile) had already qualified.
The Argentines are five-time Pan American Cup winners and the lone team to have ever won gold in the competition,
The T&T women who have resumed training have appeared at the Pan American Cup three times previously; in 2004 in Barbados when they ended eight; in 2009 when they placed fourth in Bermuda; and four years later when they ended seventh in Argentina.